Underneath the Skin
by Seraphim737
Summary: Somebody has possessed Kurt and is trying to take control of him, but for what purpose? COMPLETE! :D
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: Hey there everybody! While this is not my first fanfic, it is my first X-Men: Evo AND first angsty one! So wish me luck, and I hope you guys enjoy this.  
  
The Code: It isn't too hard to figure out, really. Asterisks (*) indicate thoughts, and brackets ([ ]) indicate...well, you'll just have to find out ;) On with the story!   
  
  
  
*I'm so tired.... It's two-thirty in the morning and I STILL haven't finished this.* Kurt sighed. He supposed this was what he got for waiting until the last minute. Everyone else in the Institute had gone to bed hours ago, and he was the only one still awake. He'd put off writing his English essay until the very last day, so now he had to pull an all-nighter to get it finished. Jean had stayed up for a little while to help him, but she couldn't make it and went to bed at midnight.  
  
But now, a bag of chips, ten cookies, and three sodas later, he'd finally gotten it all done. Yawning heavily and extremely relieved, Kurt fell back onto the couch and stretched, hearing his shoulder bones crack. "Finally!" he breathed, putting his feet up on the coffee table. His foot accidentally hit a quarter-full soda can, tipping it over and spilling it all over the tabletop. Yelping, Kurt leapt up and grabbed his English paper before the soda could reach it.  
  
"Whoa, that vas close," he said. "I'm not letting anything happen to you!" He placed the paper in the safety of his bookbag and headed for the kitchen to get some paper towels. After cleaning up the soda and the rest of his mess, Kurt glanced at the clock. He groaned. "3:00...I've got to be up in four hours! Guess I should get to bed then...." Without a second thought, he headed up the stairs towards his much-longed-for bed.  
  
As he walked past the other X-Men's doors, he thought of each them inside, sleeping, only making him more and more tired as he trudged down the hallway. *Why does my room have to be at the very END of the hall?* he thought sleepily as his trudge turned to a plod, and then he stopped completely. Why hadn't he thought of teleporting before? Blaming it on his almost delirious fatigue, he prepared to 'port into his room when something stopped him.  
  
"Yes?" Kurt asked, turning around. All he saw was the empty corridor he'd left behind him. *Strange...I thought I heard someone say my name.* He tried to teleport again, but there was a strange whisper....  
  
"Hello?" he called as softly as he could. "Is anybody there?" No answer. Kurt looked all around, but found no one. Giving up, he yawned and said, "I'm hearing things. I need to get some sleep." He teleported right into bed, not even bothering to undress or get under the covers, he was so tired.  
  
Kurt knew he must have dozed off, because when he reawoke it was 4:21. Groaning, he climbed under the covers in order to get more comfortable and hopefully fall back asleep quicker. As he pulled the blanket over himself, he stopped short. This time it was for certain; there was no mistaking it. Someone had just called his name. It was so strange though; it wasn't exactly like there was somebody standing in the hallway looking for him. It was more of a feeling, a sort of sensation that somebody was trying to summon him.  
  
Determined to figure out what was going on, he opened his door and looked down the hallway. Desolate on both sides. Frustrated, Kurt said, "Forget this. I'm tired...I'm just making this up in my head." He tried to close his door. But he couldn't; his arm seemingly arrested itself and stayed rigid as if something had just startled him. It was like the strange feeling one got when they were half-asleep and suddenly had the impression they were falling.   
  
Something was wrong; Kurt couldn't possibly guess what, but something was most definitely out of place. He couldn't see anyone else around, but suddenly he knew that somebody was there. A thing...an entity with no form to show for it...it was standing there at the end of the hallway. Kurt was more curious than anything else, truthfully, but that was only until the apparition charged at him at breakneck speed. He had barely registered what had happened when the thing "hit" him, and abruptly all he could see was fire.  
  
The hallway and the mansion just seemed to disappear; in place of his vision all Kurt could see were endless, giant flames. "Vat...vat's happening!?" he said, starting to panic. He was deathly afraid of fire, a result of nearly being burned at the stake more times than he'd have preferred. He turned, only to be met with more flames. Even above him the inferno loomed ominously.  
  
"Let me out of here!!" Kurt shouted desperately. "Make it stop!!" He was beginning to sweat; he couldn't tell if it was from fear or the fire itself. He kept turning around and around, seeing fire everywhere; it was starting to close in on him. He could feel it singeing his fur, practically torturing him with its maddening slowness. It was too much like the stake--he couldn't stand it. The fire soon crept so close that Kurt didn't dare move...and suddenly the flames were gone. The hallway, the mansion, his room...they all reappeared before his eyes.   
  
For two long minutes, Kurt was too terrified to even move. He racked his brain searching for some logical explanation as to what had just happened; it had been too real to be a hallucination. He didn't have much time to think on it, however. He sensed the apparition again, now standing at the opposite end of the hallway...and it laughed at him. It sounded so loud to him...could the others hear it? Or was it just in his head? Kurt couldn't tell, and at the moment he didn't care: it was starting to come at him again, much slower than before, almost tauntingly, like the fire.  
  
Overwhelmed entirely and barely able to think straight, Kurt slammed the door, not caring if the sound woke anyone else. In fact, he'd have rather had it do just that, so that somebody, anybody might come. Heart racing, Kurt leapt into his bed and buried himself under the covers. He knew it wouldn't do any good, but what else could he do? Where else could he go? It would follow him wherever he might teleport. He didn't want to have that vision again, and something told him that the apparition was capable of so much worse. It had been so mind-numbingly real...why was this thing following him?  
  
*Please, please, don't let it find me. Don't let it near me, please go away....*  
  
Kurt knew this thing from somewhere. Somehow, it was familiar, like a feeling of deja vu...or was he making that up?  
  
It was in his room. It had slipped in under the door. Kurt's heart pounded faster and he began to sweat uncontrollably. He had no idea what was in his room. He couldn't fathom why it was looking for him, and he hadn't a clue why he could sense but not see it. All he knew at the moment was that he was going to die. This thing was going to kill him, he just knew it.   
  
*Bitte, bitte, bitte make it go away...please...* Kurt clutched tightly onto his blanket, praying it would protect him but knowing it could not.  
  
The blanket was suddenly ripped from his hands. Kurt screamed with a horror he'd never felt before. The shadows concealed what was before him, but the silhouette was bad enough. He remembered feeling something grab his face, then remembered no more. 


	2. Stop Resisting

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: Is it sounding good so far? ::hopeful look:: I hope so. Not really much to say here, so let's continue! ^^   
  
  
  
Kurt slowly forced his eyes open. His head was swimming horribly, and the light streaming through the window wasn't helping. Agitated, he shut his eyes again and rolled onto his side. He tried to get back to sleep, but his pounding headache just wouldn't allow it. Kurt groaned miserably and grasped his temples, trying to ease some of the throbbing. He felt like Juggernaut had just thrown him into a brick wall.  
  
"Oh my head...how late was I up last night?" Kurt tried in vain to recall some part of way earlier that morning, but he was drawing a huge blank. He knew there had to be some reason he was feeling so awful, but it did nothing but make his headache worse, if that was possible.  
  
There was a whisper...and another soon followed...they started to overlap...more whispers...they were soft but they were many. Kurt tried to ignore them. They weren't making any sense, anyway. More and more built up until they became a gentle hum that irritated him further.   
  
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. "Kurt!!"  
  
"AGH!" Kurt shouted, grabbing his head. The noise had startled him...not to mention making his headache just a tiny bit worse. "Go avay!!" he yelled.  
  
"Come on, Kurt, get up!" came Scott's voice from the other side of the door. "It's 7:50, we're gonna be late!"  
  
*7:50?* Kurt glanced at his watch to confirm the time. He groaned and buried his face in his pillow. He wasn't in any mood to get up, much less go to school. *Why won't the stupid voices shut up?* he wondered in annoyance.  
  
"Kurt, I know you stayed up late last night, but you've got to get up!" He recognized that voice, didn't he? ...Ah, of course...it was Jean's voice. "Your paper's due today, remember?" she called.  
  
*Oh yeah...that paper...that's what I was doing last night, wasn't I?*  
  
The whispers got subtly louder.  
  
"I don't feel vell," he replied. "I'm not going to school today." As soon as those words were out of his mouth, Kurt laid there in bewilderment. Strange, that's what he'd been thinking...but he hadn't meant to actually SAY it. On the other hand, it wasn't like he really regretted it. The headache was making him sick to his stomach and the last place he'd want to be was at school, where all the loud noises were. *This must be what a hangover is like...* he mused. He decided to remember the feeling in case he ever felt like getting drunk later in his life.  
  
"But Kurt--"  
  
"I said GO AVAY!!" Kurt shouted angrily. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He'd made it pretty clear that he wasn't in the mood to go anywhere, hadn't he? So why had they kept on persisting? So irritating, like the whispers...but they weren't whispers anymore. They were voices...loud ones.  
  
Kurt couldn't make a drop of sense out of them. The words were all backwards anyway. But what language? English, German, what? There was no way he could tell. He couldn't even pick out one word in the entire scrambled mess. The noise added to the confusion added to his headache, which only grew worse as the voices grew louder...or maybe there were just more of them. And they just kept coming, more and more and louder and louder until they were just a deep buzz in the core of his brain.   
  
Kurt tried to block them out, but no amount of pillows seemed to help a thing. He tried shouting, trying to drown the voices out, but to his horror, he couldn't even hear his own voice anymore. He doubted that if Scott or Jean were still talking he'd be able to hear them either. So what was he to do now? He couldn't get back to sleep, this headache was threatening to make him sick, and the nonsense voices didn't sound like they'd be disappearing anytime soon. They just kept spinning....  
  
[Are you ready?]  
  
Kurt raised an eyebrow, puzzled. Somehow something had just made sense. Or had he just imagined it?  
  
[This will be over with very soon if you cooperate.]  
  
Was somebody talking to him? Kurt looked around his room, not exactly knowing why or even what he was searching for.  
  
Buried deep within the thick grove of words, Kurt heard something new...a scream. Very faint at first, but then rising in a sharp crescendo until it overpowered everything else. Startled, Kurt's hands flew to his ears in a fruitless attempt to stifle the sound. Then, what once were voices now were screams, until he felt as if his entire being were filled with the anguished shrieks of five hundred unseen people. The voices had merely been irritating; these were horrifying.  
  
"Stop it! STOP IT!" Kurt yelled desperately, still unable to hear himself. "Make them stop, make them stop!!"  
  
And he could hear laughter....  
  
***  
  
Later that day, in the evening, there had been no sign of Kurt all day long according to Ororo and Professor X. Logan was not around the institute much himself anyway, so he couldn't accurately account for Kurt's whereabouts. Scott, Jean, Kitty, Evan, and Rogue were currently gathered together in the dining room, doing homework until dinner.  
  
"Isn't it like, weird Kurt didn't go to school today?" said Kitty. "He stayed up all night last night to do his paper, and then he was too tired to turn it in! I mean, like, talk about counter productive."  
  
"I told him not to put it off like that," Jean replied. "He'll figure it out eventually."  
  
Kitty scoffed. "I like, wouldn't count on it."  
  
There was a short silence before a change in subject. "Hey," said Rogue, "was anyone else woken up last night when Kurt slammed his door?"  
  
"I did," Scott replied. "But it was only for a second; I got back to sleep pretty quickly. I actually forgot about it until you brought it up."  
  
"He actually slammed his door?" asked Kitty. "That's like, so rude of him!"  
  
"Huh," Rogue said, ignoring Kitty. "So was that him who screamed, or did I just dream that?"  
  
"I didn't hear anything," said Evan. "You must've dreamed it."  
  
"Must have..." she murmured. "Just curious."  
  
The door opened softly and everyone looked up; Ororo had just entered the room. "Sorry to disturb you all," she said, "but could one of you go see if Kurt's awake yet? It's nearly dinnertime."  
  
"I'll go," volunteered Kitty. "I like, can't take much more of this math anyway."  
  
***  
  
[Why are you resisting? You can tell how painful it makes this.]  
  
All day, the screams and the voices in Kurt's head had been alternating, on and off, sometimes there, sometimes gone, other times at the same time. But throughout it all there had always been only one voice that Kurt could understand. That, too, disappeared and reappeared frequently. When it was present, it was often telling him to stop struggling, stop shouting, that all the noise would be gone if he'd just sit still. Kurt tried to believe the one understandable voice, but all the screams were so overwhelming.  
  
"I can't help it!" Kurt shouted. "Vhy von't they stop?!"  
  
[They don't need to.]  
  
Out of nowhere, a voice rose louder than all the others, spouting out a long, maddening string of backwards words, which was then overlapped by a shrill, raspy scream. The two continued, in synch, never tiring, only furthering Kurt's irritation and fear.  
  
"Stop it, stop it!!" he shrieked desperately. "Vhy von't you just leave me alone!?"  
  
[You will understand soon. And stop shouting. It will only make them worse.]  
  
***  
  
When Kitty came back into the dining room, the table had been cleared of their homework and Jean and Rogue were setting out silverware. "Is Kurt coming?" Rogue asked.  
  
"No!" Kitty yelled angrily. "He like, totally blew up at me! All I did was say, 'Hey Kurt, are you coming to dinner', and he totally like, SCREAMS at me to leave him alone!"  
  
Jean's eyes widened in surprise; Rogue raised her eyebrow. "Are you sure?" Jean asked. "Kurt said that to YOU?"  
  
"Pretty sure."  
  
Jean looked at Rogue who was just as puzzled as she was. Rogue shrugged. "I don't know what's goin' on with him," she said. "He's been acting kinda funny all day, hasn't he?"  
  
"A little bit," Jean replied. "He sorta yelled at me and Scott this morning, too. But I thought that he was just tired then. I don't know why he would still be angry over whatever's gotten him so touchy."  
  
"Well, I say let him work it out on his own," Kitty said, still a little edgy herself. "As for me, I'm starving. What's for dinner?"  
  
***  
  
*I don't like this,* Kurt thought. *I want you to make them stop.*  
  
[I'm not going to do that. The end result will be exceedingly satisfying.]  
  
*What result? What are you doing?*  
  
[You will soon see.]  
  
*I don't want you here.*  
  
[What did I tell you? Stop resisting and there will be no pain. But if you want to make this difficult, I can arrange it.]  
  
"I VANT you out of my head!" Kurt yelled aloud.  
  
[STOP RESISTING!!]  
  
Abruptly, Kurt was seized by an unseen force. His vision became distorted and blurred, and the screams were louder than ever now. Waves of pain surged through his body at random intervals, each worse than the last, each so unbearable, they seemed like knives were pressing upon Kurt's every nerve, like somebody was grasping Kurt's entire body and twisting it over and over. He was starting to see the fire again: every so often the horrific vision would flash before his eyes and then be gone without a trace. Kurt was certain he was screaming fervently enough to tear his throat apart, yet he still couldn't hear himself in order to be sure. All he could hear were the shrieks, the crying, the screeches...and the fire was coming closer....  
  
***  
  
During dinner, Kitty had told the others about what had happened upstairs with Kurt, being sure to stress to each of them that she had done nothing to deserve such a harsh response. They were, however, slightly less interested in her troubles and more interested in the reason behind Kurt's aggressiveness.  
  
"What's the big deal?" Evan inquired. "It's not like it's a huge mystery or something. He's just tired, man, that's all."  
  
"That could be, Evan," Ororo replied, "but he's been sleeping all day."  
  
"Perhaps a little session in the Danger Room will whip him back into shape," Logan suggested gruffly. "The rest of ya are welcome to join us if you'd like." None of the other X-Men made eye contact. Logan smirked.  
  
The conversation moved to more casual topics afterwards, yet it was short-lived. About halfway through Scott's story of his glasses nearly falling off in gym, Rogue shushed him harshly. "You guys hear that?" she asked. The table fell silent, and a faint distant noise could be heard. It was not so easily identified, however.  
  
"What is it?" Jean asked. Not two seconds after she'd finished her question, the sound rose in volume abruptly, making it quite obvious was the noise was now: a scream.  
  
"That's Kurt!!" Rogue yelled, jumping up so suddenly she nearly knocked her chair over. She dashed from the room, the other X-Men all on her heels, with Logan ahead of all of them. By the time the rest of them had made it up the stairs, Logan was already at Kurt's door, where the scream was indeed coming from, pounding on it mercilessly.  
  
"Elf!!" he yelled. "What's going on in there!?" Without waiting for an answer, he kicked the door open, which really wasn't neccesary as it had been unlocked, but instead of rushing in he stood completely shocked at what he found. When the others caught up with him, they too were momentarily petrified.  
  
Kurt was writhing on his bed, screaming and crying as if something were killing him. He kept jerking about and grabbing his head, taking absolutely no notice of the stunned group at his door. However, stunned as the X-Men may have been, they could still hear and see, and the sound of Kurt's anguished shrieks brought them back to reality before long.  
  
"What's going on?! What's happening to him!?" Rogue shouted frantically.  
  
Logan snarled and rushed forward, grabbing Kurt's shoulders tightly in an attempt to calm him down. Again, Kurt took no notice of him, and continued to squirm. He was screaming so loud that it made Logan wince to be this near him, but he just held on tighter. Kurt thrashed about violently, for a brief second even slipping out of Logan's grasp.  
  
"Kurt!" Logan yelled. "Settle down, it's me!!"  
  
Kurt would not open his eyes. He wouldn't stop screaming. And he just kept struggling....  
  
***  
  
Kurt could see the fire clearer than ever. No matter where he looked, it was there. The only way to escape from it had been to close his eyes, but now it was not that easy. It consumed his vision entirely, the voices were screaming with him, and the pain just wouldn't stop.  
  
There was no way for him to tell how long this had been going on. Kurt had lost all sense of everything since it started. He could no longer tell up from down, or whether he was sitting or standing. All he wanted, all he cared about now was for somebody, anybody, to make it all go away.  
  
"Helfen Sie mir!! Jemand helfen mir bitte!!!"* he cried, not realizing that no one in the institute would understand him. He became vaguely aware of some distant form of motion, but of course, that could be the one understandable voice playing tricks on him.  
  
*Please stop, please make it stop!* he begged it.  
  
[This is what happens when you resist.]  
  
For a brief second, the fire disappeared, and it was replaced by the image of someone's face. It had been almost too quick for Kurt to notice. He didn't recognize the person anyway. Momentarily, the face returned, this time screaming "Elf!!" at him. Who was that? Didn't somebody he knew used to call him that? Kurt tried to ignore the pain long enough to remember, but it just wasn't coming....  
  
"Kurt!!" a distant voice yelled. "Kurt!!"  
  
Everything vanished. The voices faded and died. The flames extinguished. The pain was finally gone....  
  
Kurt opened his eyes slowly, noticing that his muscles and throat were sore and that he was breathing heavily. He looked up and saw Logan standing over him, holding him down. He looked highly apprehensive, but like he was trying to hide it and wasn't doing very well at it. Without moving his head, Kurt glanced to his right, seeing the other X-Men standing at the door, all looking extremelly disturbed. He looked back up at Logan.  
  
"Logan..." Kurt breathed faintly, feeling tears pour out and down his face, "help me...please...they von't leave me alone...."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
And chapter one is done :) I know Kurt seemed a little OOC in the beginning...that was intentional. It'll make more sense in later chapters, don't worry. Also, I don't know how accurate the German is: I used dictionary.com's translator for it. I don't speak ANY German myself. I know a few words but no grammar whatsoever, so feel free to tear it apart in your review ^^;; Please review, please let me know what you think. No flames though...they won't help anything. Constructive criticism only!  
  
*And the translation for Kurt's German is: "Help me!! Someone help me please!!!" 


	3. What Did You Do to Me?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: Wow, thanks for all your lovely reviews! ^^ I'm so happy you guys like the story so far. Well, I've got other stuff to say, but I'll let you read the chapter first and you can read my rambling at the end =) Here we go.  
  
  
  
  
  
The X-Men were too shaken from witnessing Kurt's strange attack to leave immediately afterwards. It could neither be explained nor ignored; the only way to figure out what had really happened was to, as always, ask the professor. His handicap had made it impossible for him to get to Kurt's room in time to actually see it happen, but the testimonies that the confused and concerned X-Men were giving him filled him in sufficiently.  
  
"It was weird, Charles," Logan said after the younger mutants had calmed down somewhat. "He just kept screamin'. And for a second he slipped out from under me, even though I was holding on as tight as I could." Professor X could see why Logan would be vaguely concerned about that last bit. Normally, Logan could have held Kurt over his head if he wanted to. There was no contest between them when it came to physical strength: Logan was definitely stronger. So it was strange that Kurt would have been able to overpower him, although momentarily.  
  
"Professor, can't you see what's wrong with him?" Rogue asked worriedly. "He was really scarin' me."  
  
The whole thing had just happened so suddenly that it was just now registering in some of the X-Men's minds. It was like some weird dream that came quickly, but then faded as it was trying to be remembered. But it was no question that they were all troubled. Kitty was even looking at Kurt sympathetically, as if trying to make up for her earlier grudge towards him.  
  
"I will try, Rogue," Xavier replied. He wheeled into the room and up to Kurt's bed, where the blue furry mutant still was showing no signs of movement. Ever since the ordeal five minutes ago, Kurt had just been lying there, neither seeming awake nor asleep. He was staring at the ceiling, breathing softly and slowly, his eyes having a faraway look in them as if he was not aware of anything around him.  
  
[Now do you see what happens when you try to fight it?]  
  
Kurt felt like all his energy had been drained. He was awake but could not move, yet at the same time, overwhelmed with fatigue but unable to fall asleep. He had no desire to fight anything, he simply didn't have the willpower anymore. Plus, he was afraid that if he gave even the slightest impression of defiance, the thing would bring back the pain and the screams tenfold.  
  
*I'm sorry...I just want to know what you're doing.*  
  
[You will soon see.]  
  
*You keep saying that...why don't you just tell me?*  
  
[It is not neccesary for you to know.]  
  
Out of nowhere, the professor's face appeared above Kurt, looking apprehensive yet determined. It calmed him somewhat to see a familiar face. The professor had always been able to solve any problem...he could help Kurt, couldn't he? He mustered up enough strength to vaguely whisper, "Professor?"  
  
"Don't be alarmed, Kurt," Xavier responded gently. "I'm just going to see if I can find out what happened to you."  
  
Kurt did not reply, but when the professor reached for his head, he teleported suddenly away. Professor X recoiled slightly from the surprise.  
  
"Where'd he go?" Kitty asked confusedly, looking around the room but finding no sign of him.  
  
"He didn't go far," the professor replied. "He's still in the mansion, at any rate."  
  
"Well, I suggest we go find the elf," said Logan, "so you can figure out what's going on with him." Without another word, the remaining X-Men set off to search the institute.  
  
***  
  
When Kurt reappeared, he found himself lying on a cold, hard surface, staring straight up at a huge dark shadow. Confused, he felt around on either side of himself and found something large and rubbery on his left. In the dimmed light, it was no trouble for Kurt to see what the something was with his natural ability to see in the dark. It was a tire; he had ended up underneath the X Jet.  
  
Groaning slightly, he rolled out from under it slowly. *Why did I teleport here?* he asked himself. *Why did I teleport at all...?* "Did you bring me here?" he asked aloud.  
  
[I did.]  
  
"Vhat for?"  
  
[He shouldn't be poking around in your head, Kurt. He shouldn't be bothering us like that.]  
  
Kurt managed to stand, briefly leaning against the jet for support. His headache was still pounding in his skull and making it difficult to concentrate.   
  
[Now are you going to cooperate?]  
  
Kurt groaned and rubbed his head. "Yes...yes, I'll try," he replied.  
  
And, as expected, the voices began to fade in....  
  
***  
  
The X-Men had all split up around the mansion, each taking a separate section, to search for Nightcrawler. Rogue was checking the X Jet's hangar. She had tried to protest, saying that Kurt never came down there by himself, but Scott had told her that Kurt might have just teleported blindly and there was no real way to know where he'd ended up. So, a bit reluctantly as she still thought there was no way he'd be there, Rogue had consented.  
  
She walked into the large room and at first took a quick glance around. She went to take a closer look around the jet, but an all-too-familiar noise stopped her.  
  
BAMF.  
  
"Kurt?" she called.  
  
***  
  
Kurt had teleported to the ceiling of the hangar, sticking himself there and watching Rogue intently. He hadn't been able to hear her enter the room due to the voices, which were getting louder every second, but after a minute or two he'd seen her and, startled, teleported away. As he watched her from above, he slowly felt something slipping from his memory. Kurt's eyes never left her, and as the seconds went by he began to feel a little...different.  
  
He forgot her name. Kurt knew this girl from somewhere, but what did they call her? He couldn't remember. He soon could no longer recall her face either. Every time he tried to force the memory to come, she always ended up looking like his mother or somebody else he was sure he'd made up. Kurt blinked, half-confused. Who was this person? He was sure he'd just known a minute ago...why was it not coming to him?  
  
"Kurt?" he could hear her call. "Kurt, I know you're in here, where are you hiding?"  
  
Kurt scowled angrily. What business was it of hers where he was? Why had this stranger just suddenly intruded upon him, just appeared without invitation and expected him to answer to HER? Kurt's tail twitched agitatedly. He should not be the one hiding. He should not have been startled by her. It was her who should be intimidated by him.   
  
***  
  
Rogue heard another BAMF, this time behind her. She turned around, now facing the X Jet, but still no sign of Kurt. She scowled. *He must be messing with me,* she thought. "Kurt!" she called aloud. "Come on, we've got to go back upstairs, the professor wants to take a look at you."  
  
Another BAMF. Rogue groaned. But mere seconds later she caught the unmistakeable scent of brimstone coming from directly behind her. She turned, expecting to find Kurt, saying, "It's about t--" She stopped in midsentence, overwhelmed momentarily with shock.  
  
Kurt was there, most definitely, but frightfully different. Instead of his eyes being their normal vibrant yellow, they had gone to an ugly, deep blood-red. His expression was as if Rogue had done something he could never forgive and he intended to kill her for it.  
  
"Kurt!" Rogue shouted, backing up about eight feet. "What happened to you!?"  
  
He did not reply; instead, he made a grab for her as if he was trying to strangle her. Rogue ducked out of the way. "What are you doing?" she yelled. "It's me, Kurt! It's Rogue!"  
  
Kurt ignored her and tried again to catch her in his hands. Rogue tried to dodge, but he was too quick for her. For a split second she had been too distracted by the oddness of his behavior to really realize the fact that he was trying to hurt her. It was a mistake on both their parts. Kurt gripped Rogue's neck, but the instant his hands came in contact with her skin, there was a massive effect on each of them.  
  
They both screamed, as the previous pain that had been tormenting Kurt earlier was now surging through both their bodies. Kurt and Rogue both tried to break away, but they were stuck to each other like a live wire. The screams filled Kurt's head once more, drowning out his own and Rogue's as well. But Rogue, instead of momentarily receiving Kurt's powers and memories, was seeing something else inside her head.  
  
There were giant walls of fire before her eyes. She could hear Kurt...laughing and screaming at the same time, the latter noticeably louder than the former. She noticed that it wasn't his normal, carefree laugh either. It was a low, evil cackle...the sort of thing she'd expect from Mystique or Magneto even...never Kurt. Rogue could hardly convince herself that it WAS Kurt she was hearing. Her entire thought occurred in merely three seconds, then was horrifically interrupted.  
  
An enormous dark shadow rose up before her, having no distinct shape that she could tell but its eyes were obvious. They were like two giant, glowing red holes, and they were furious. Rogue suddenly felt herself being jerked violently backwards as something indiscernible entered her body, and then in two seconds she was jerked forward again, a large blast of wind coming with each motion. She lost her balance as a result and reached wildly in front of her for something to break her fall. It was then that she and Kurt were finally separated, and all the horrific visions disappeared.  
  
It took Rogue a full minute to register and recover from what had just happened. Nothing like it had ever occurred before. Instead of receiving Kurt's memories, it was like she was just looking at them, like the professor would do. And she hadn't gotten Kurt's powers, either. It felt like it had all tried to come, but for some reason it just went straight back to him. But was that because of her, or did it have to do with whatever was going on with Kurt? Either way, Rogue didn't like what she had just seen, and to think that this was in Kurt's head...he needed help, and soon.  
  
Rogue found that she had grabbed onto Kurt's shoulder in her attempt to keep from falling. Cautiously, she looked him in the face, and was relieved to see that his eyes were no longer red, at least. She was about to ask him if he was all right when his eyes suddenly closed, and he fell forward. Reacting quickly, Rogue promptly caught him.   
  
"Kurt!" she called, trying to rouse him. "Kurt, are you all right?" Rogue herself had merely gotten a small dizzy spell from the experience, yet she wasn't sure what it had done to him. But Kurt had unexpectedly lost consciousness, so she wouldn't be getting any answers from him at the moment.  
  
***  
  
[Do not EVER let her touch you again.]  
  
*Mein Gott, what did you do to me?! I forgot who she was! I nearly killed her!*  
  
[Yes, and you were doing quite well until you touched her. Did you see what happened when you did that? You will be lucky if nothing is ruined.]  
  
*Why did you make me attack Rogue?*  
  
[I didn't make you. You did it of your own free will.]  
  
*I would never--*  
  
[When you touched her, she briefly forced me out of you. Now that I'm back, I have to start over, so I suggest you just stay quiet and cooperate.]  
  
*Start over?*  
  
[And don't forget what happens when you try to fight it.]  
  
***  
  
Rogue had managed to telepathically contact the professor and notify him and the other X-Men of her and Kurt's whereabouts. Presently, Rogue, the professor, and Logan were in Kurt's room again, where the fuzzy elf was now sleeping. She was recounting to them the events that had taken place inside the hangar. The other X-Men had wanted to stay and hear what had happened also, but Logan sent them all away and told them they could hear tomorrow.  
  
"And I didn't get any of his powers or anything," Rogue said. "Just that one image."  
  
"You say," asked Xavier, "it felt like something was trying to enter your body as well?"  
  
"Yeah, for a second. And then he just like...passed out."  
  
"You sure his eyes were red?" Logan asked, almost incredulously.  
  
"Pretty sure," she replied uneasily. Rogue had a gut feeling that she now knew what was wrong with Kurt, yet she either didn't want to admit it or she was trying not to believe it. "Professor," she asked quietly, "do you think you could try to look inside his mind again? I don't think he'll run away this time."  
  
Professor X looked for a moment like he was deep in thought, then nodded and replied, "I will try, Rogue."  
  
He cautiously wheeled to Kurt's bedside, as if he was trying not to wake the sleeping mutant. Xavier carefully placed one hand on Kurt's forehead, then touched the other to his own. He concentrated deeply; for a minute he did not see anything. But then, gradually, he was starting to see the same vision that Rogue had earlier...the wall of flames, the infuriated shadow, the sound of Kurt screaming in the distance....  
  
Abruptly, Kurt awoke and immediately shoved the professor's hand off him. Xavier recoiled, startled not only by the sudden movement, but by what he had discovered as well.  
  
"Professor...please..." Kurt pleaded fearfully, "please stop. You're...you're making him angry...."  
  
"Who?" Logan asked in a highly dangerous tone of voice, the word almost sounding like a growl.  
  
Kurt sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Professor...Logan...Rogue...I'm very tired...could you all just please let me sleep now?"  
  
Rogue looked concerned. "Kurt, are you all right?"  
  
"I'm tired, Rogue, and I vant to sleep."  
  
"Come on," Logan whispered to Rogue. "Let's just leave him to himself for now."  
  
"But what if something else happens?" she asked worriedly.   
  
"Come on," he said again, and started to lightly push her towards the door. Reluctantly, Rogue did not resist.   
  
Professor X was deeply troubled by what he had seen, yet before he could question Kurt about it, he had already fallen back asleep. Xavier was concerned, but he knew that nothing more could be done at the moment. Silently, he wheeled out of the room and left Kurt alone.  
  
***  
  
[You keep him out of here. Do not let anybody penetrate this mind again.]  
  
*I'll try...but why not?*  
  
[It disrupts the process. That's all you need to know. And if this will not work, I will kill you.]  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
And that's the end of this chapter. I meant to have this up last night, but I was too tired. All right, so here's the thing: this is my first time writing in a category this big. I published this story on Tuesday, only four days ago, and it's already been pushed back to the seventh page. So I'm going to have to update more often than I'd originally thought. I'm not going to rush it, though, so don't worry...I won't give you sloppily written chapters.  
  
Please review and tell me what you think! ^^ 


	4. Please Wake Me Up

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: I'm really glad you all are liking the story so far. This would have been up yesterday, but this chapter was a little harder to write than the others, since this one is a big turning point. So enjoy! :)  
  
  
  
  
  
"I now know for certain what has happened to Kurt," Professor X announced. He had called all the X-Men to gather in the library, all of them arriving quickly, as they were all too eager to learn the reason behind Kurt's strange behavior. But now, hearing the tone in the professor's voice and seeing the concerned expression on his face, they were slightly more apprehensive as they awaited the explanation.  
  
Rogue was perhaps feeling a bit more tense than the rest of them. After her brief glimpse into Kurt's mind, she had a vague idea of what the matter could be. Now she was simply awaiting the confirmation of her fear.  
  
The professor took in a deep breath and sighed, almost defeatedly. "He is possessed."  
  
"Are you serious?" asked Scott incredulously.  
  
"You're joking, right?" said Evan.  
  
"He's really possessed?" Jean asked.  
  
"As in like, possessed possessed? Like 'The Exorcist' possessed?!" asked a very uneasy Kitty.  
  
Rogue groaned despairingly. "I knew it," she said. "I saw it in his head when he touched me."  
  
"Professor, is there anything we can do?" Jean asked worriedly.  
  
"Unfortunately," he replied, "I'm not entirely certain. I only got a brief glimpse into his head before he pushed me away. I honestly don't know much more of the situation than what I have already told you."  
  
"There's gotta be something, Professor," said Scott. "We can't just do nothing."  
  
"I agree, Scott, but I'm afraid that for the moment there's nothing we can do."  
  
"Can't you try to find out more?" Evan inquired. "You know, like take another look inside?"  
  
"No," Rogue replied. "Apparently, whatever's inside Kurt doesn't want us doing that."  
  
"Rogue is right," Xavier added. "And since we don't know exactly what we're dealing with, we wouldn't want to do anything that could potentially endanger Kurt. Or at least not any more than he already could be."  
  
***  
  
[You're being very good. You haven't complained once since I've started. Or rather, restarted.]  
  
*I don't want to talk to you.*  
  
The voice laughed. [That's fine with me; I don't particularly want to talk to you at the moment either. Just keep being cooperative and this will be painless for the both of us.]  
  
Kurt wished he wasn't asleep. But the strange thing had forced him into a state of unconsciousness for the time being. He was trying to ignore the incessant, incoherent voices in order to think. Sporadically, the fire would return in miniscule flashes, but he ignored that also. Kurt wished he understood what was going on. He wished the voice would at least tell him its name, or anything at all, really, besides threatening him all the time.   
  
Kurt hated feeling this way: helpless, powerless, and used. He could not resist what the voice was doing to him...that only brought intense pain. If Rogue touched him or if Professor X tried to help him, it only infuriated the voice...and Kurt was afraid of what it might do. So the X-Men could not help him, and he could not attempt to help himself...what was left to do except find out what the voice was doing firsthand?  
  
[Soon you will no longer remember this place. Soon nothing else will matter except the only thing that truly does....]  
  
The voices turned to screams again. They were echoing, bouncing off one another, swirling and mixing into one huge essence. Kurt could hear the anguished cries of a hundred people...but they no longer bothered him. They were not nearly as disturbing as before. In fact...he rather liked them now. He enjoyed the sounds of hurting, dying, and screaming that were consuming his mind...he wondered why he had never heard them like this before.  
  
[Do you hear that, Kurt? That is the sound of pain, in its purest form.]  
  
Kurt was taken slightly aback. That was the first time the voice had used his name. Up until now, he'd hadn't even been sure that the thing had known it.  
  
[This isn't who you are anymore, Kurt.]  
  
Slowly, one by one, Kurt felt things slip from his memory. It was not completely unlike the feeling he'd had moments before attacking Rogue earlier that evening. But he was forgetting more than just faces and names this time...he was forgetting everything.  
  
This was a strange place. What was he doing here? He didn't live here, did he...he couldn't. Kurt remembered growing up someplace else.... What time was it? Hadn't he meant to do something today? Or maybe he'd already done it...or perhaps it wasn't time yet. Wasn't he bilingual? What other language did he know besides...besides...what was his native language? Kurt couldn't remember. What was his middle name again? Wasn't it the same as his father's name? Or maybe it was his mother's...who was she? Didn't she used to sing him to sleep when he was really little...or did she yell at him all the time? No, that had only been the time he'd left the front door open and accidentally let geese in the house...or were they ducks? Maybe it was the back door....  
  
Kurt tried to sort his thoughts out, but they were being shuffled and shredded into an indechiperable mess. Every time a memory came to him, it would seem unclear, and then he couldn't remember it correctly until he forgot it altogether. Perhaps if he tried a more recent memory something would make sense....  
  
....  
  
.......  
  
There were no recent memories. Kurt couldn't remember the events of yesterday, the day before yesterday...not even anything from earlier that evening. He remembered attacking Rogue, and he remembered the professor trying to penetrate his mind...but that was it. Kurt tried to recall some of the other X-Men's faces to see if they might trigger anything...no, nothing. How many were there, anyway?  
  
This was driving him crazy. Kurt knew he was forgetting things, but what exactly were they? He wanted something to feel familiar, anything at all; he wanted some other memory besides his brief fight with...with...what was her name??  
  
*Please wake me up.*  
  
[No.]  
  
*Why not?*  
  
[I am almost finished here. Then we will see how well you do.]  
  
*I can't remember anything.*  
  
[What do you mean by that?] Kurt couldn't help but notice how uninterested the voice sounded.  
  
*I just...there were people I used to know...I know they exist, but I can't remember their names or what they looked like....*  
  
[Are you certain they're real? Why would you forget them if that were true?]  
  
*...I don't know.*  
  
[They must not mean anything to you then. Otherwise you would at least remember a name.]  
  
*...Yeah...I guess so....*  
  
***  
  
Rogue couldn't sleep. Or at least she couldn't sleep peacefully. As much as she probably didn't want to admit it, she was too busy worrying about Kurt to do much of anything else. Every time she did manage to doze off, she would have vivid nightmares of the fire she had seen in Kurt's head and wake up instantly.  
  
Ever since their little scuffle in the hangar, Rogue had known that Kurt was possessed. She had seen it when she touched him...plus, why else would his eyes have changed color like that? The only thing she didn't know was who was possessing him. The first person that came to mind was Mesmero...but as far as Rogue knew, he didn't change the appearance of his victims and he couldn't give them convulsion-like attacks. No...it couldn't be Mesmero. So then who else would want to do this to Kurt?  
  
Rogue didn't have any answers. She almost desperately wished to touch him again so she could find out more, but she was too afraid of hurting him, whether directly or indirectly. Rogue sighed and sat up in bed.  
  
"I can't deal with this," she said, kicking the blankets off her. She got up and walked out of her room; she had to talk to him. Rogue couldn't stand this state of not knowing. Something told her that it wouldn't be the same; it wouldn't be like talking to Kurt normally. It didn't stop her though. Even if she got nothing out of it, she at least wanted to see how he was doing. She had never wanted to leave him alone in the first place.  
  
"Why am I so worried about him anyway?" she wondered aloud.   
  
*'Cause he's your brother...* her inner voice answered softly. She sighed and decided that it was a good enough reason...for now.  
  
Rogue came to Kurt's door and knocked lightly. After not receiving an answer after a few seconds, she let herself in. She shivered. The room was colder than the hallway...much colder. "Kurt?" she whispered. "You awake?"  
  
There was no answer, but she could hear him breathing. Quietly, she made her way to his bedside. He was lying on his side, facing away from her. "Hey, Kurt, wake up," she said, gently tapping his shoulder. "Just for a minute...I want to talk to you."  
  
***  
  
*Aren't you finished yet?* Kurt was tired of being taken advantage of. He was sick of having to just sit there while the voice did whatever it wanted to him. He felt like being a little snippy.  
  
[Be patient for one more moment. It is almost complete. In a few seconds you will no longer be as you were...you will be as you were meant to be.]  
  
Its reply was surprisingly frightening. As Kurt was meant to be? What did that mean? He had never been able to think up even the most ridiculous thing this voice could be doing to him, but considering what it had just told him...it was chilling. Kurt felt fear rising up within him. *Are you going to kill me?*  
  
It was a silly question; he knew it was. But Kurt just had to say something. This thing was never going to tell him what it was doing. He had asked it enough to know it was pointless. But Kurt was starting to become extremely scared...he was afraid now that it was more powerful than he had originally feared. He had done nothing before because he was afraid of the pain...but now that the thing was nearly done with whatever it was doing, Kurt felt a desperation to know the truth that had not been there before.  
  
[In a sense, yes.]  
  
Kurt panicked. *But you told me--*  
  
[I said 'in a sense'. You're not going to die, Kurt, so stop whining.]  
  
*Please, please tell me something, tell me anything...I'm so confused, I can't remember anything, I don't know where I am....*  
  
[Do you notice how your moods change so quickly? One minute you are irritated and touchy, the next you are practically begging for your life.]  
  
*So what?*  
  
The voice laughed. [That means it is working. But I will not say any more now: you have a visitor.]  
  
***  
  
Kurt made a small noise and turned over in bed, facing towards the ceiling. His eyes slowly eased open, blinking as he awakened.  
  
"Kurt?" said Rogue.  
  
He turned to look at her. His eyes seemed blank and emotionless. "Who are you?" he asked tiredly.  
  
"What do you mean 'who am I'? Kurt, I just want to talk to you for a minute."  
  
"No, no..." Kurt rubbed his eyes. He seemed confused. "Vhat's your name? I don't know you."  
  
A tiny bit of hope left her. If Kurt could no longer remember her...it had to be because of his possession. But how long would it last? Was it even permanent? Rogue was starting to worry that that thing inside him had been there far too long.   
  
Somewhat despairingly, she replied, "My name's Rogue...Kurt, you know me. Come on, don't you remember me?"  
  
He blinked lethargically and slowly shook his head no.  
  
"Oh, come on! You nearly strangled me in the hangar today, remember?"  
  
Kurt narrowed his eyes, like he was concentrating deeply on something. He gradually sat up in bed, staring at Rogue all the while, realization becoming evident in his face with each passing second. She watched him hopefully, thinking that maybe she'd brought him to his senses.  
  
"I remember you..." Kurt whispered slowly. Rogue suddenly felt uneasy. There was something about his tone she didn't like. As he was remembering her, he was becoming different...she could see it. He was getting angrier. Rogue's heart momentarily leapt into her throat as she saw Kurt's yellow eyes start to fade. The color was just...disappearing.  
  
"You were the one who touched me...." Kurt scowled at her.  
  
Rogue started to back away. She didn't like what she was seeing. Slowly, very slowly, his eyes were turning the ugly color they had been before: a deep blood red, replacing the previous yellow. His eyes started to glow, brighter and brighter as his rage built up further....  
  
"You tried to kill me!!" Kurt yelled, jumping up. Rogue was so startled she could barely move. True, she had seen Kurt like this before, but he had not been so angry then. He hadn't even said anything. Now, he was staring at her even more murderously than before. His fangs were bared and his eyes were glowing so bright it hurt to look at them.  
  
"What!? No I didn't, Kurt!" she exclaimed, holding her hands up in defense. "Just calm down...I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise."  
  
"Well, that's just fine," he replied dangerously. "But I cannot promise you the same thing."  
  
Rogue was even further shocked. His voice had changed entirely. It didn't sound like Kurt in the very least, not by any stretch of the imagination. The voice that had just come from the fuzzy mutant's mouth was a low, deep growl, almost like Logan's but at least two octaves deeper. Not to mention the fact that his accent was gone.  
  
She had no more time to try and persuade Kurt as he began to advance on her, his eyes glowing brighter all the while. Rogue knew he couldn't touch her, but she didn't care to stick around to find out what he would do instead. She turned around abruptly and sped out the door, slamming it behind her and holding it shut.  
  
"Logan!" she shouted. "Professor! Scott!! Something's happened to Kurt!!"  
  
***  
  
Kurt watched Rogue run away but did not care to follow her for the time being.   
  
[How does it feel, Kurt? How does it feel to be truly yourself for the first time?]  
  
"More liberating than you can know," he replied, grinning maniacally.  
  
[That's precisely what I thought.]  
  
"Will you reveal yourself to me now so I can thank you face to face? I cannot tell you how grateful I am to you for releasing me from that weaker state of being."  
  
[Not yet. But the time for answers will arrive soon.]  
  
Kurt could hear the sounds of the other X-Men on the other side of the door. He smiled again, but the voice stopped him before he got any ideas.  
  
[I know you are eager, but you must be careful around them.]  
  
Kurt sighed exasperatedly and practically yelled, "What for!? I could kill them all in half a minute!" Kurt still did not remember the X-Men as he used to anymore, but he knew that the southern girl with the white streaks had nearly killed him earlier when she touched him, and he figured that the people gathering outside his room were her allies.  
  
[If you are not cautious, they may be able to revert you back to how you were before.]  
  
Kurt groaned in annoyance. "Can't that be helped in any way at all?" he asked curtly.  
  
[Only if you learn a little patience. They want you to be the way you were before I came here.]  
  
"All the more reason for me to kill them now."  
  
[No, Kurt. The longer you stay this way without any interference, the sooner your weaker form will be destroyed. Just wait for a little while...you will stay powerful that way.]  
  
***  
  
Rogue didn't have long to wait for the rest of the X-Men to arrive. Logan was the first to get there, his claws already out and ready. Kitty actually came straight through the wall without even bothering to open her door.  
  
"What's going on, Rogue?" asked Scott hurriedly.  
  
"It's Kurt," Rogue replied. "I was just in there and all of a sudden he just changed!"  
  
"Into what?" asked Jean confusedly.  
  
"I don't know, but his eyes started glowing all red and his voice got deeper...and he was trying to attack me again!"  
  
Logan growled, having all the answers he needed. He pried Rogue's hands off the doorknob, which she had been clinging onto tighter than she meant to be, and flung the door open violently. It was too dark to see anything, but a familiar lingering scent hung in the air. Logan sighed defeatedly.  
  
"He's gone," he said. "He teleported away."  
  
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Ha ha! Now the good stuff will begin! ^^ I just have a few more things to say. First, the identity of Kurt's possessor won't be revealed for another few chapters, and I've been trying not to give away too much. If you think you might know who it is then that's great, but if you don't I won't give you any hints. Second, I've been debating whether or not to bring Mystique into this story. Leave your opinion in a review and then we'll see what happens. Please review and tell me what you think! =) 


	5. No Need For You

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: Meh. I don't like writer's block. Sorry, but this chapter is a little shorter than the rest. As far as Mystique being in the story...well...I still have to think about it. This chapter contains some heavy Kurt angst and also a bit of Kurt acting kinda creepy. On with the chapter! =)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Can you find him anywhere, Charles?" Ororo asked apprehensively.  
  
"No," the professor replied defeatedly. "He's blocking me. For some reason Kurt doesn't want us to find him."  
  
"That's not Kurt!" Rogue shouted defensively. "Something's controlling him...it's not really him."  
  
It was a moment before Professor X replied. "Yes, that's true, Rogue, but either way we need to find him as quickly as possible. We still know very little of the situation, yet the sooner we locate him the sooner we can fix it." Rogue only sighed in response.  
  
"Therefore," he continued, "I will attempt to use Cerebro to find him. The rest of you search the mansion in the meantime, but be careful."  
  
"What do we do if we find him?" asked Kitty nervously.  
  
"Just try not to lose him again," Scott told her. "Grab onto him or something so he won't teleport away, then send a telepathic message to Jean. Jean, you tell the rest of us then, and we'll come as quick as we can." Jean nodded.  
  
***  
  
Kurt reappeared, extremely dizzy, somewhere cold and far too windy for his liking. The same pounding headache he had had when the voice first came to him was back, and worse than ever. He could barely see straight and felt like he was going to pass out. Slowly, he sat down and felt around for something recognizable. The rough surface he felt beneath him and the whistling wind in his ears brought him to the only conclusion he could think of: he had to be on the roof of the institute.  
  
"Oh my head..." he groaned miserably. His new headache was several times worse than the one he'd had that morning. His head was throbbing, pulsating heavily, but at the same time it felt like somebody was squeezing it, trying to crush his skull. It was almost like his head was about to explode and implode at the same time. Kurt felt like he was going to be sick at any moment. He kept his eyes closed and his hands over his face to try and discourage the impending illness.  
  
[Do not break concentration. Focus.]  
  
Kurt took a deep breath and took his hands away. His eyes were red again. "Sorry. Something must have distracted me."  
  
[Just fix your attention on the task at hand.]  
  
Kurt laughed, almost crazily, and stood up. "You just continue with what you're doing and so will I. Who would you like to bet finishes first?"  
  
Now the voice cackled. [I will finish long before you, I promise you that.]  
  
Kurt smirked. "We will see."   
  
BAMF.  
  
***  
  
The fire was back. It was absolutely everywhere, as far as Kurt could possibly see, even below him. Before, the flames were just around him on every side...now it was completely all-encompassing. He seemed to be floating in the very midst of a hellish inferno...by all means the most frightening sight he could have ever imagined. So much worse than the stake...so horrifyingly worse....  
  
"No, no, no!!" he shouted. "Let me out, let me go!"  
  
From somewhere in the distance, he heard a deep, resonating laugh that ran up from the tip of his tail to the very top of his spine. Kurt looked around wildly, searching for the source. He was too frightened to call out for someone to answer him, too petrified to even scream. He just waited there, shaking with fear, trying to keep some sort of wits about him. At the moment, that was proving to be nearly impossible.  
  
And then it rose up before him. The thing was enormous...easily twelve times larger than Kurt. Kurt felt panic and fear surging through his body; he was near the point of hyperventilation. But he just couldn't scream. He found he could do nothing but stare in absolute terror at this thing in front of him...he recognized it. It was the sillhouette he had seen for only a fleeting second the night that the voice first came to him. There was no mistaking it.  
  
And now it was back, and laughing. Laughing at him.  
  
"It's over," the creature said in a growling, familiar voice. It was THE voice...the voice that had been tormenting Kurt for what seemed like forever. "It's almost sad how quickly I was able to do it. But in any case, this is the end."  
  
After a few quick deep breaths, Kurt managed to ask, "Vhat...vhat do you mean?"  
  
"The end of you, of course," the creature replied menacingly. "There is no need for you anymore...not that there ever was."  
  
Kurt didn't like where this was going. He could barely bring himself to ask another question: "Vhat are you talking about...I vas just on the roof...I don't know vhat's happening...."  
  
"You don't need to," it snapped. "All you need to do is die so that the true Kurt will live as he should have."  
  
"Vhat true Kurt? I'm the real Kurt! Vhat are you talking about?!"  
  
The voice laughed maniacally. "Oh, you are dreadfully mistaken."  
  
The screams made an abrupt return, louder and even more pain-filled than ever. The waves of pain shot through Kurt even more intensely than before. Every so often a small flame would jump from the others and tauntingly scorch him. He was screaming horrendously, the pain and the screams threatening to drive him into an irreversible state of insanity. When one of the little flames touched him, he would panic and think he was engulfed in them. He'd try to put them out, but there was never any fire to be found and it only panicked him further. He was shedding tears now, crying harder than he could ever remember doing in his life, the torturous agony was so great.  
  
A quick image flashed through his mind...it was one of the times he'd been caught by the townspeople, and nearly burned alive....  
  
"Please stop..." he begged the creature desperately. "Please, PLEASE stop...." What had he possibly done to make it so angry with him?  
  
He could hear them yelling....  
  
"Demon!"  
  
"Monster!"  
  
Kurt gasped for breath and shouted, "Stop it, stop it!! Please, vhy are you doing this!?"  
  
The creature glared and responded, "Because you are worthless to me."  
  
***  
  
Jean had taken the upper floor to search for Nightcrawler. Even though the only evidence of Kurt's possession that she'd witnessed had been his one convulsion-like attack, she could not help but feel a little apprehensive. The professor had seemed a little too worried when he revealed to them the cause of Kurt's strange behavior. It made her think that he had found out more than he was letting on. And it took something pretty serious to make the professor hesitant like that. At least that was what Jean had learned in her experience.  
  
Besides, after finding Kurt the first time, Rogue had recounted to her and the other X-Men what had happened in the hangar. It made Jean uneasy, yet curious. Rogue had seen something imperceivable in Kurt's head; the professor had most likely seen the same thing, but he evidently understood it more. Jean was wondering if she should be the next to take a look. There was only one thing holding her back: she had to admit she was a little scared of what she might find.  
  
She was floating down the hall quietly instead of walking so as not to give herself away. She checked each room she came upon as thoroughly as possible, but came up empty every time.  
  
"Kurt?" Jean called quietly as she entered Scott's room. "Kurt, you in here?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Jean turned suddenly, just in time to see something jumping at her. Reacting quickly, she caught the thing in the air with her mind, and it was only then that she got her first real look at it.  
  
For the first second or two all she could see were two blinding red lights of some sort, and then as her eyes adjusted to the brightness she was able to make out a very familiar form.  
  
"Kurt!?" she said incredulously. He laughed.  
  
"So nice of you to come and visit," he jeered. "It took you a while to find me, though."  
  
"Kurt, what happened to you?"  
  
"The best thing that's ever happened to me," he replied with a disturbing grin. Jean had never before noticed how sharp his fangs were. "Now be so kind as to put me down."  
  
Jean was so bewildered she nearly lost her concentration and let Kurt go. But she stayed focused nonetheless. She realized that if she did want to look inside Kurt's head, now would be the time, and probably the only time, to do it.  
  
"I said put me down!" Kurt yelled agitatedly, beginning to struggle against Jean's telepathic grip.  
  
"Kurt, hold still!" Jean said. She reached one hand towards his head, but he was moving around too much. Jean knew she had to be careful; if she lost her focus again she might drop him and who knew what would happen then?  
  
"What are you trying to do?" he spat rudely, sounding not at all like himself. This only unsettled Jean further: she had always been so used to hearing Kurt's gentle, carefree voice. Not only did this demonic one not suit him, but it caused the thought to cross her mind that the real Kurt might be too far gone to bring back. Once again determined to find out what was truly going on, Jean made another reach for his head.  
  
"I'm trying to see what happened to you!" she told him firmly.  
  
"Stay away!!" Jean's hand came closer this time: too close for Kurt's liking. As soon as her fingers were within range he grabbed them tightly with his teeth and bit her as hard as she could. Jean shrieked and lost her hold on him. Kurt landed on his feet, but did not lose his grip on her. The more she struggled to pull her hand away, the harder he clamped down on it.  
  
"OW...Kurt, let go!!" Jean cried as she struggled. Kurt merely cackled and replied, "Nuh-uh," the only answer he could give without releasing her. Jean couldn't believe how much it hurt. She could feel blood on her fingers already. Although she could safely say Nightcrawler had never bit her before, she could swear that his fangs had never looked like they were this sharp. They had already cut through her skin...now it felt like the bone was about to break.  
  
The pain had been so surprisingly great that Jean hadn't been able to get her mind together to use any sort of telekinesis against him. Kurt, of course, used this to his advantage. He abruptly released her hand. Jean stumbled back and grabbed her fingers in an attempt to ease the pain, not even wanting to look at them. She could see the frightening sight of blood, her blood, on Kurt's fangs, and it shocked her further into vulnerability.  
  
Not wasting a second, Kurt leapt forward and wrapped his tail tightly around Jean's neck. With surprising strength, Jean noticed, he hurled her across the room. She flew into the window, her head cracking the glass. Now unconscious, Jean slumped silently to the floor.  
  
Kurt laughed maniacally yet delightedly at the sight. He licked her blood off his teeth and teleported away.  
  
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And that's chapter four. I know it was shorter than the other chapters, but I figured that was a good place to leave off for now. Now for something completely different...sort of. There are a few reviews I'd like to respond to ^^  
  
To CrypticIdentity: Hehe, nope, not an OC :) You might very well know who it is...but then again, you might have no clue, so you'll just have to wait and find out for certain.   
  
To rachel: yEEp! Don't hurt me! lol Aww, don't be mad at me please ;; I can't give away anything about the ending, though. I wish I could, but I don't want to give away any more than need be about this story. You'll just have to keep reading to see if it turns out happy or sad or...whatever other type of ending there is.  
  
To MoonDragon_1001: What was the name of the song? If it really does fit the story maybe I'll add it in here somewhere :)  
  
To Snitter in Rivendell: Nope, not Mesmero...but a good guess :) As for Amanda being in the story, I hadn't planned that so probably not :( Sorry to disappoint you. I hope the story will be good enough to make up for the lack of Amanda for you.  
  
Those were only reviews I wanted to respond specifically to. But to everybody who has reviewed so far, thank you so so so so much, really. I love getting feedback and hearing what you have to say about this story.   
  
There's just one more thing I have to ask of you all: sometimes I have a problem with overdoing the angst. Please let me know if I did this or not and I'll try to fix it in later chapters. Let me know what you think and review! =) 


	6. Nothing Wrong With Me

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: I decided to give you all a longer chapter than usual this time, just because I can :) Hehe, well, there's more rambling at the end, so on with the chapter!  
  
  
  
  
  
Logan was checking the Danger Room. He sniffed the air constantly, hoping to catch some scent of Kurt or maybe even some brimstone. He kept his claws out, though hesitantly. He knew that Kurt was not acting of his own free will and Logan didn't want to accidentally hurt the younger mutant for doing something he couldn't control.  
  
Logan stopped suddenly. Something was familiar now. He whipped around abruptly and found Kurt standing at the other end of the room, his tail twitching behind him excitedly.  
  
"There you are," Logan said, half-relieved, half-tense. Kurt did not reply, but merely narrowed his eyes in a suspicious glare.  
  
"Listen to me, elf," said the older man, retracting his claws slowly. "The professor can get this thing out of ya. You just have to let him."  
  
"And why would I want him to help me?" Kurt asked, almost sounding genuinely curious. He BAMFed suddenly and reappeared behind Logan. Logan turned back around and backed up cautiously, staying on his guard but trying not to show it.  
  
"Really, though," Kurt continued. Logan did not like the way his tail was twitching. The spaded tip was jerking back and forth like some sort of nervous tic. Kurt was planning something; he was going to jump at Logan any second now, Logan just knew it.  
  
"Why would I want to go back to being human?" asked Kurt, the question almost sounding not rhetorical.  
  
But it confused Logan. It puzzled him long enough to let his guard down for a few seconds. "What are you talking about, kid?" he asked.  
  
The split second was all it took.  
  
Kurt lunged at Logan, grabbing his neck. Logan stumbled backwards and fell to the floor on his back. Kurt was overpowering him again; Logan felt like he was actually going to crush his neck. Soon he couldn't breathe; within seconds Logan was gasping for air. All Kurt was doing was laughing.  
  
"It's such a glorious feeling!" he shouted gleefully. "I have so much more power now...I have never felt as strong as this! No more weak Kurt, no more weak Kurt!!"  
  
With a disturbingly delighted cackle, Kurt lifted Logan up and tossed him across the room. Logan, reacting quickly, extended his claws and dug them into the floor to slow him down. He landed on his feet and looked back at Kurt in bewilderment.  
  
"So you must understand," said Kurt, grinning, "I must try it out on somebody."  
  
Logan gritted his teeth. If Kurt was not going to listen to him, then he'd just have to force the furry mutant to come. He retracted his claws once more and ran toward Kurt as fast as he could. Kurt teleported quickly out the way, as Logan expected. Logan continued with his attempt, however, no matter how many times Kurt teleported away. It was a seemingly pointless fight and it was going nowhere; they were both well aware of this.  
  
"Hold still, elf!" Logan yelled, hoping that his hurriedly devised plan would work.  
  
Kurt apparently was not listening. But all of a sudden, Logan stopped running and stared at Kurt questionably, as if waiting for the answer to some unasked question. This caught Kurt's attention and he too stopped teleporting around for a moment.  
  
"Oh, what is it?" he chided. "Getting as tired of this as I am?"  
  
"Yeah, but...." Logan sniffed the air. Through the now heavy odor of brimstone wafting throughout the place, he could detect a completely different scent. He glared at Kurt dangerously.  
  
"Elf..." he said slowly, "did you hurt anybody?"  
  
Kurt laughed. "Why?"  
  
"Because I can smell Jean's blood on you," Logan replied, growing angrier by the second.  
  
"Oh, you can, can you?" Kurt noticeably licked his fangs. "So what are you gonna do? Kill me?" His voice had an annoyingly sarcastic tone to it.  
  
Logan growled. His previous plan was to distract Kurt with the monotonous chase earlier long enough to scratch him slightly with his claws and hopefully startle him. He was going to then grab on to him and call Jean for backup, but now he knew that Jean had been attacked, and most likely lying unconscious somewhere in the mansion.  
  
He stared at the red-eyed, smirking Kurt in front of him and suddenly felt a huge wave of hatred for him. But Logan had to hurriedly remind himself that it was not Kurt he was angry with: it was whoever had done this to him.  
  
"All right, kid," Logan said slowly, forcing himself to sound less furious. "I'm not gonna kill you...I just want you to tell me...who did this to you? Who is controlling you?"  
  
"Nobody is controlling me!!" Kurt yelled angrily. "This is my true self!!"  
  
Logan growled. "Kurt, or whoever you are!! Stop doing this! We can fix this!"  
  
Kurt gritted his teeth and teleported quickly in front of Logan. He grabbed the older mutant's neck with both hands and held him as high as his own height would allow him. It had happened too fast for Logan to initially struggle, but now that realization was setting in, it was a bit late. Logan gripped Kurt's wrists tightly, but they were immovable. "Kurt," he said as calmly as he could, "put me down."  
  
"Nothing needs fixing!!" Kurt shouted, enraged. He tightened his grip on Logan's neck, his red eyes glowing brighter all the while. "There is NOTHING wrong with me!! This is what I should have been!!" Kurt had begun to shake Logan with each emphasized word, squeezing tighter and tighter with some sort of unexplainable rage.  
  
"I am VERY sorry if you don't like it, but you don't need to!" He spoke with a dangerous seriousness that only Logan himself had used before. Kurt continued, still angry, still murderous, still shouting, "So if you're looking for that other Kurt, that weak, HUMAN Kurt--" Logan noticed the disgust with which Kurt said the word 'human' "--you may as well stop trying now, because he's killing him. He'll be dead before you ever even see me again."  
  
Logan had no idea what Kurt truly meant. There was evidently something Logan was missing, but now was not the time to muse on it. Thinking about it for only half a second, Logan abruptly extended his claws, and in doing so, deeply cut the side of Kurt's face. Unfortunately, it was a deeper wound than he'd intended to make. However, he got the desired results.  
  
Shocked by the sudden onset of pain, Kurt dropped Logan and stumbled back, yelping and grabbing his face. But Logan couldn't help but notice: when his claw had severed Kurt's cheek, for a brief moment his eyes had flashed yellow...or perhaps Logan had simply imagined it? In any case, it was gone now, Kurt's eyes still blazing crimson but not quite as bright as before. He seemed utterly bewildered, as if he never could have imagined, even in his wildest dreams, that Logan was able to hurt him.  
  
"Sorry I had to do that, kid," Logan said, rubbing his neck.  
  
Kurt did not reply, his hand still tightly grasping the cut. He was not even looking at Logan anymore. His eyes were focused sharply to his right, his head never moving; he looked like he was thinking deeply about something. He blinked, and focused just as intently on something nonexistent on his left, then teleported away without a word.  
  
Logan cautiously took a look around him, but he knew that Kurt had left the Danger Room altogether. He could not pick up the blue mutant's scent anywhere, just the always lingering odor of brimstone. Logan sighed defeatedly and ran off to inform the other X-Men.  
  
***  
  
Kurt reappeared inside the kitchen, perched quietly under the bay window. He was rubbing his head as if the headache was back; in truth, he was merely thinking too hard. Growling angrily, he shouted, "What's going on in there!? Why can I hear him!?"  
  
[His agony is tremendous. What were you expecting?]  
  
"Shut him up!! I can hear him screaming and it's distracting me!! I can't concentrate with that awful racket in my head!!"  
  
[Calm down, you impatient fool. I will do the best I can, but I AM killing him. Unless you want me to go slower....]  
  
"Just make him be quiet!! I can't concentrate with his screaming distracting me!!" Kurt shouted furiously.  
  
[You have quite a fiery temper. Keep it in check, or it shall be your downfall.]  
  
Kurt growled again as the voice disappeared for the time being. The only reason he had not finished the man with the metal claws off earlier was because the "other" Kurt's screams had for some reason reached his ears. Thinking something was wrong, he'd teleported away, and was just now regretting it. Kurt removed his hand from his wound and examined his palm: wet and red with his own blood. Suddenly feeling agitation rise up within him, Kurt quickly clenched his hand into a fist and briefly thought of how he'd make up for the momentary loss of time.   
  
An abrupt noise made Kurt's ears perk up. He looked up, expecting someone to walk in at any second. He stayed completely still, the only movement he made being the occasional swish of his tail.  
  
"Kurt?" came a girl's nervous voice. "Are you in here?"  
  
He stayed still and saw a girl timidly walk into the room, not bothering to turn on the lights. He wondered why she would be so foolish. "Kurt, come on," she said, her voice slightly stronger this time. "We're not gonna hurt you...the professor's gonna like, try to get this thing out of you."  
  
Again, Kurt felt annoyance. Why did they keep saying something was inside him, like he was being controlled? Kurt was doing all of this to fulfill his own thirst for violence and death. How many more would he have to encounter before they got it?  
  
"Kurt?" the girl called, sounding afraid again. Kurt tried not to laugh: she should be frightened.  
  
She turned her back to the bay window for the time being to scan the kitchen one last time before giving up on it. Kurt slowly began to stand from his previous crouched position, planning to jump her and kill her before she could even scream. However, it was not to be this easy.....  
  
Kitty caught a faint rancid smell: the unmistakeable scent of brimstone. She whirled around abruptly, horrified at seeing that she had just barely escaped attack. "Kurt!" she yelled, shocked. "I totally didn't see you there!"  
  
Kurt feigned disappointment and jumped from the bay window. "Oh darn, you found me." He actually wasn't very surprised by it: he HAD teleported only half a minute before she discovered him. He found that his mood was getting better now: he found pleasure in seeing her so terrified of him.  
  
"Kurt..." Kitty stammered, backing up all the while, "your eyes are all like...freaky!"  
  
"You people certainly seem to like commenting on my eyes," he replied, grinning.  
  
*Jean! JEAN!!* Kitty called out frantically with her mind. She was receiving no answer. "Kurt, did you do something to Jean?" she asked, half-afraid of the response.  
  
Kurt noticeably licked his fangs again, as if trying to savor some pleasant fading aftertaste. It was not a good sign to Kitty, but she took it as a "yes". She put up her hands defensively, trying not to show her fear.  
  
"Kurt...I don't know what's going on, but please, you gotta let us help you."  
  
Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm afraid you've got it all backwards...you're the one who needs the help."  
  
As he made a sudden jump toward her, Kitty quickly phased through him. Kurt was confused for a split second, not quite knowing what had happened. Kitty took advantage of the split second, and, surprised by her own bravery (or it could have been foolishness), she jumped on Kurt's back and held on as tightly as her muscles allowed. The blue mutant was further confused and for a few seconds did not fight back.  
  
"Spyke!!" Kitty called, as she knew he was close by. "Evan!! Get in here, quick!"  
  
Kurt finally regained his wits and tried to throw Kitty off him, but she held on as if her life depended on it. And at that moment, it may not have been very far from the truth. In about half a minute, Evan came running into the kitchen.  
  
"Kitty, what's--" he yelled, as he ran, but upon seeing Kurt stopped dead in his tracks. "Whoa..." he breathed. "Is that KURT?"   
  
"He's not acting like himself!" Kitty tried to explain. Kurt was growing more and more restless. He tried grabbing her with his tail, but she just phased through it every time. But she knew she could not keep it up for long.  
  
"You're very irritating," Kurt told her, almost sounding calm. "I suggest you get off me now before you irritate me further."  
  
Kitty ignored him. "Evan, quick, come here and hold him for me while I go get Scott!"  
  
Cautiously coming forward, Evan asked, "Why don't you just call Jean like he said?"  
  
"She's not answering. And I think blue boy here had something to do with it." Kurt was beginning to struggle more violently now to get the persistent girl off his back. He glared dangerously at Evan, as if just daring him to take one more step.  
  
"Evan, I like, can't hold him forever!" As if on cue, Kurt threw her off his back in one huge, angry thrust. Reacting quickly, Evan shot a spike at him, which Kurt unexpectedly caught in midair. "Now," he asked with a tone that suggested he was losing his last bit of patience, "why would you provoke my anger any further?" Disgusted and annoyed, he tossed the spike to the floor.  
  
When Kurt had thrown her off, Kitty had phased into the floor. She managed to do so unnoticed, and now she came up from the tile behind Evan. "Just keep him in here, Evan!" Kitty called as she ran out. "I'll get Scott as fast as I can!" Evan looked a bit reluctant to be left alone with Kurt at the moment, but he agreed.  
  
Kitty ran out of the kitchen and headed for the library, where Scott was searching. She burst through the doors, yelling, "Cyclops! Scott! Where are you?!"  
  
Scott whirled around, startled, automatically reaching for his visor. But upon seeing it was only Kitty, he lowered his hand. "Kitty, what is it?" he asked.  
  
"It's Kurt, we finally found him," she explained hurriedly, gesturing out the door. "He's in the kitchen with Evan."  
  
"Why didn't you call Jean?"  
  
"She's like, not answering! And I think it might be Kurt's fault."  
  
Not wasting another second, Scott and Kitty ran out of the library. Kitty had only been gone about two minutes, but when they reached the kitchen, there was only one person there: Kurt was gone. Looking around confusedly, Kitty asked, "Wh-where'd he go? He was just here!"  
  
Scott ran forward to Evan, who was lying half-conscious on the floor with blood oozing out of his right arm. "Evan, what happened?" Scott asked worriedly. Carefully, he lifted Evan up to a sitting position. Evan groaned and grabbed his arm painfully.  
  
"He stabbed me, man," Evan said groggily. "With my own spike. He just did it so fast. I was trying to grab onto him like you said, but as soon as I got close to him, he just...I don't know, I don't even remember...."  
  
"Well, whatever happened, Kurt's not here anymore," Scott said, stating the obvious. "Come on, Evan. We should get you out of here...." He fell suddenly silent as he heard rapid footsteps approaching. But he eased up when Logan ran into the room: the sound had only been him.  
  
"I heard you kids in here," he said. He surveyed the scene and asked, "What happened here?"  
  
"Kurt happened," Kitty replied sullenly. "Now we have no idea where he is."  
  
"We'll deal with him later. But I just came in here to tell ya, I think Jean had a close encounter with Kurt, so Scott, you'd better go see if you can find her. Kitty and I will take care of Evan."  
  
"Yeah," Scott replied, unable to mask the concern in his voice. Without another word, he turned and sped from the room.  
  
***  
  
Rogue was, admittedly, too distracted to really pay attention her search. She just couldn't get the image of Kurt out of her mind. The sound of his voice kept playing and replaying in her head, and every time she closed her eyes she could see those two glowing red orbs staring back at her. It was far too unsettling for her to completely grasp quite yet. It just wasn't something she could understand, how Kurt could change into something like that after just one day. Or after any length of time, really.  
  
Rogue was supposed to be checking the main floor, but she had accidentally wandered upstairs when she was lost in her thoughts. She had gone halfway down the hall when she realized that she was actually supposed to still be downstairs. She sighed and turned back around.  
  
"Why hello there."  
  
"AGH!" Rogue jumped back, startled. "Kurt, is that you?"  
  
"Now, what do you think? Really?" Kurt did not look at all pleased. He started to advance on Rogue with a disturbingly annoyed look in his eyes.  
  
Rogue backed up further as he came closer, holding her hands up defensively. "Kurt, listen--" she started, but he cut her off abruptly.  
  
"Don't even start, they've all said the same thing! 'Let us help you, Kurt', 'we can get this thing out of you, Kurt'. Well, I'll say it again: THERE IS NOTHING INSIDE ME!!" He suddenly teleported behind Rogue and dangerously gripped her neck with his tail. Startled and panicked, Rogue grabbed the part of Kurt's tail that encircled her throat in a vain attempt to yank it off.  
  
"But I don't care about that now," Kurt said lowly. His voice held a malignant tone that Rogue didn't like at all. "You tried to kill me."  
  
"No I didn't, Kurt! You touched ME!"  
  
He ignored her. "I am going to make certain it doesn't EVER happen again."  
  
"Kurt, stop it!" Rogue shouted. "Let go of me!"  
  
He tightened his grip, not saying a word. Rogue tried to struggle harder, but it was obvious that it wouldn't get her anywhere. Fed up, she let go of his tail with her right hand and began to pull her glove off with her teeth. She had no idea what would happen this time, but at the moment it was her last resort, whether Kurt liked it or not.  
  
"Not this time," Kurt said, suddenly reaching in front of her and grabbing her hand before any part of it was exposed. "This time you keep your hands to yourself."  
  
Kurt's grip on her was surprisingly strong. But as Rogue was struggling to wrench her fingers out of his grasp, she noticed something that even further unsettled her: there was blood on Kurt's hand. She desparingly wondered whose it was.  
  
Rogue was startled by a sudden change in her surroundings. Suddenly, she found herself on the roof: Kurt must have teleported here.  
  
"Kurt, please, don't do this!" she yelled. He still refused to answer her. Rogue took a breath and tried to get her mind straight for one second. She did the first thing that came to mind: she tipped herself backwards, hoping to fall on him and at least disorient him for a few precious seconds.  
  
The idea worked better than she'd thought. Before the two of them hit the roof, Kurt released his hold on her and teleported to the other end. However, Rogue still fell flat on her back. She scrambled up quickly. Kurt still did not seem amused.  
  
"I don't have time to play games with you," he told her, coming closer. As he spoke, Rogue got her first real glance at his face and noticed his cut.  
  
"Kurt, what happened to your face?"  
  
Looking annoyed, Kurt replied, "Yeah, you can thank your other friend for that. But honestly, I would be worrying about your own well-being right now if I were you."  
  
Rogue scoffed. "I'm a little more worried about YOU, honestly."  
  
He laughed at that. "I think you must be talking about the wrong Kurt."  
  
She froze for half a second. His reply had for some reason frightened her, yet at the same time it was intriguing. "What...what do you mean by that?"  
  
Kurt grinned, his fangs gleaming oddly in the moonlight. He stared at her tauntingly, as if he had no intention of answering her and every intention of leaving her to wonder about it forever.  
  
"What do you mean!?" Rogue shouted, angrier now. His silence was making her impatient.  
  
"I think you're looking for the other Kurt. Would you like to speak with him?"  
  
Rogue gasped excitedly, as if she couldn't believe her luck. Before, as much as she hated to admit it, she had briefly believed that the real Kurt was gone for good. This fake Kurt had now just implied that the real one still existed...but he could be lying. Rogue decided to take her chances.  
  
"Yeah, I would," she replied as rudely as she possibly could.  
  
Kurt laughed and shrugged. "Sorry. I'd show him to you, you see, but it really disrupts the process. And that would just really make him angry."  
  
Irritated that he had been messing with her, but really having expected no less, Rogue asked, "Make who angry?" Without him noticing, she discreetly removed her right hand glove.  
  
"Who do you think?" he asked her, still grinning. "The one who did all this. The one who released me, and the one who is destroying that weak, useless Kurt right now."  
  
Rogue could feel fury rising up within her, but she had to wait for just the right moment....  
  
Then, suddenly and without warning, Kurt grabbed Rogue's shoulders and forcefully pushed her off the roof. She was so shocked by the abrupt action that she couldn't even scream at first. Flailing her arms wildly, she grabbed the first thing her hand touched: Kurt's tail. Fortunately, she did not pull him down with her, but she had grabbed him with her right hand...the one with no glove.  
  
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Haha...cliffhanger! Literally, almost lol I like seeing all your guesses for who the possessor is. As much as I'd like to, I'm not going to give you any hints. So one of you may have already guessed it...or you could be not even close. Hehe...I'm not gonna say ^^ At least not yet. But keep on guessing! One of you might get it...and in the event that one of you does manage to guess correctly before I actually reveal it, I'll be sure to recognize you for it and give you all the credit =) Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! 


	7. The Look on Your Face

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: I never seem to have much to say at the beginning. Well, as always, there's a longer author's note at the end :) On with the chapter!  
  
  
  
It was like one huge electric shock. With it came extreme pain, but Rogue could not let go. Like the first time she had touched Kurt, something was just preventing her from releasing him. Kurt screamed and attempted to yank his tail out of her grasp. As much as Rogue would have liked to let go and rid herself of the sudden agony, there were two things holding her back: first, if she let go she would fall, and second, this was another chance to look inside Kurt's head.  
  
"Let go, let go!!" Kurt screamed. "What are you doing!?"  
  
The last thing Rogue remembered seeing were his enraged crimson eyes, then there was an abrupt change in her vision.  
  
Fire was blazing all around her. It took a moment for her to realize what had happened, but soon enough she recognized the place. It was the same fire she'd seen the first time she touched Kurt, but this time the sounds were slightly different. Instead of hearing Kurt both laughing and screaming, she could only hear one: the screaming. Rogue searched the endless flames, but they all looked the same. She was afraid she would lose her grip on him before she found anything out, a thought that made her slightly panicked and pressed for time. But it wasn't long before she found what she was looking for.  
  
She turned around and there, barely fifteen feet from her, Rogue saw Kurt. But it wasn't the same Kurt who had been chasing the X-Men around and attacking everybody. No, she was convinced: this had to be the real Kurt.  
  
He didn't even seem to see her. He was grasping his head tightly, crying with an intense sorrow and agony that Rogue had never seen before. He was screaming, "Stoppen Sie es!! Stoppen Sie es bitte!!"*  
  
"Kurt!!" Rogue yelled, not knowing if he could even hear her. "Kurt, it's me! Kurt!!"  
  
He was keeping his eyes shut tight. Kurt continued to scream in German, none of which Rogue could understand, and took no notice of her. She was about to call to him again, when a familiar apparition made a sudden appearance.  
  
Rogue was horrified as an enormous THING emerged from the distant flames. She recognized this shadow as well; it had been here before. And it was angry with her again. Angry with her for intruding. It wanted her gone, and now. Rogue was petrified; she couldn't move and she couldn't scream. It had to be at least three times bigger than before.  
  
At the arrival of the apparition, Kurt finally opened his eyes, and Rogue couldn't help but notice the intense terror etched in them. But as his eyes eventually found their way to Rogue, the fear was joined by disbelief.  
  
"Rogue!!" Kurt cried desperately. "Helfen Sie mir!! Helfen Sie mir bitte!!" He reached out to her with one hand, keeping the other on his head as the pain was obviously too much to let go. "Helfen Sie mir, Rogue...machen Sie es aufhält bitte!!"**  
  
Rogue didn't understand what he had said exactly, but his tone was enough to get the message through. She was about to call back to him, but a brief flash stopped her. Everything was fading; her vision was being abruptly replaced with the image of the other Kurt on the roof. Now she knew if she was going to do something it had to be fast. But what could she do? There was no way for her to reach him.  
  
"Kurt!" she yelled, knowing it would do no good, but she felt like she at least had to do something. Rogue didn't want him to think like there was nothing she or any of the other X-Men could do to help him, though she still had herself to convince.  
  
Kurt shrieked again, and the shadow in the distance suddenly swept down over Rogue, and within the instant she found herself falling from the roof. To her horror, she had lost her grip on Kurt's tail. Whether she or he was responsible she couldn't tell. She saw Kurt glare at her hatefully before teleporting away. Rogue looked down and found the ground horrifyingly farther than she thought....  
  
***  
  
Scott managed to rouse Jean without much difficulty. She awoke groaning and rubbing her head.  
  
"Jean, what happened?" Scott asked worriedly.  
  
"It was Nightcrawler," she responded with a slight strain in her voice. "I was trying to look inside his head and he bit me...then he threw me into the window...ouch...." Jean could feel a rather large bump from the impact starting to form. Fortunately, no blood was involved, or at least none that she could find. "I never knew Kurt was that strong."  
  
Scott noticed the bite on her hand and was mortified. Gently, he took it to take a closer look. "This where he bit you?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah. How's it look?"  
  
"Pretty nasty," he replied with a slight grimace. "Almost looks infected, too."  
  
Jean laughed. "That's actually not very surprising." She started to stand up.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay?"  
  
"I'm fine, Scott, really," she replied. "Just a little dizzy and a little headache. That's all. How is everyone else?"  
  
"As far as I know, everyone's all right except for Evan."  
  
"What happened to him?"  
  
"Kurt stabbed him in the arm. But he's all right," he added quickly upon the look of horror on Jean's face. "Logan and Kitty are taking care of him, so he'll be okay. But I haven't heard from Rogue or Ororo yet. Kurt's been running around for about half an hour now, so I wouldn't doubt one of them has caught up with him yet."  
  
Jean sighed. "I think splitting up was a bad idea. We should regroup."  
  
"Yeah. But the professor should know that Kurt's in the mansion now, right? Shouldn't we go get him so we can fix this?"  
  
"I think so. I'll call him on the way."  
  
"Let's go then."  
  
***  
  
Rogue felt panic rising up within her. She saw how close the ground was and how fast it was coming and screamed, for a moment forgetting all about what had just happened only seconds before. She was just as startled when a sudden huge gust of wind came up from under her, and she abruptly stopped in midair, floating about twenty feet from the ground. She blinked, confused.  
  
"You should be more careful, Rogue," came a voice from behind her. Rogue turned around.  
  
"Ororo!" she exclaimed.  
  
Storm had seen Rogue fall while she was checking the institute grounds and caught her with some nicely timed wind. She gently set the younger girl down. "What happened?" she asked with some unease.  
  
"Kurt pushed me off the roof," Rogue replied straightforwardly, noticeably shaken. Ororo's eyebrows raised in concern.  
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm...I'm fine."  
  
Ororo noticed that Rogue seemed distracted by something. She was about to question her about it, but then saw Rogue's bare hand and made the assumption. "Did you touch him?" she asked cautiously.  
  
Rogue hesitated for a moment, then nodded and began rubbing her forehead as if trying to clear her thoughts.  
  
"Did anything happen?"  
  
"Yeah...yeah, I could see him, the real Kurt...and...." Rogue was cut off by a distant yell.  
  
"Rogue! Storm!"  
  
The two women looked up and saw all the other X-Men running towards them. The professor was with them and Evan was now sporting a large bandage on his injured arm. Jean also had bandages on her hand.  
  
"You two all right?" Scott asked. Rogue brushed some hair out of her eyes and replied testily, "If you call being pushed off a roof all right."  
  
"You got pushed off the roof, Rogue?" Kitty asked, bewildered.  
  
"Yeah, and I'll give you three guesses as to who by," she replied sarcastically. Seeing Jean and Evan's injuries, she added, "I guess you guys ran into Kurt too then." Evan nodded with a look of irritation in hs eyes.  
  
Logan broke in and said, "That elf was sayin' some weird stuff when I fought him. Sayin' stuff like he wasn't human anymore. Do any three of you have any idea what he's talking about?" He was referring to Professor X, Jean, and Rogue. Jean shook her head no.  
  
"I never got a chance to probe his mind," she said.  
  
Logan, like Storm, noticed Rogue's distractedness. His eyes strayed to her ungloved hand and he raised an eyebrow. "What about you, Rogue? Got something to share there?"  
  
She looked up. For a moment she was hesitant again, and then she sighed defeatedly. "I touched Kurt again."  
  
Everyone, with the exception of Logan, Professor X, and Storm, looked either surprised or curious, or a combination of the two.  
  
"And what did you see, Rogue?" the professor asked gently.  
  
Rogue rubbed her forehead again and shut her eyes like she was trying to concentrate. For some reason she just could not clear her thoughts. She felt like she was trying to remember something that she had just forgotten a moment ago, something that was on the tip of her tongue but just refused to come. "I saw Kurt...the real Kurt," she said finally. "I think he's still alive or something...and he was screaming at me to...well, I don't know exactly what he said 'cause he was speaking German again...but it sounded like he wanted me to help him."  
  
"Like, what does that mean?" Kitty asked worriedly.  
  
"Hard to say."  
  
Professor X suddenly sighed. "I'm afraid I may know what Kurt may have been talking about to Logan. You see, when I probed his mind earlier I was able to--" He was cut off abruptly by a tremendously loud explosion.  
  
***  
  
Kurt teleported from the roof and ended up in the same hallway as before. He could not remember feeling more irritated. Angrily, he shouted, "I've HAD it with that girl!! Did she ruin anything!?"  
  
[She may have. But I cannot tell for certain yet.]  
  
Kurt cursed heavily. "Every time...EVERY SINGLE time I have tried to do away with these annoying mutants...I don't understand why I just can't kill them!"  
  
[You are not trying hard enough. I have told you to concentrate. Perhaps if you try that you will actually accomplish something.]  
  
Kurt growled. He started off to find another X-Man, but before he could go five steps, he was suddenly seized by an enormous pain. He shrieked and grabbed his head. "What are you doing!?" he screamed.  
  
There was no answer from the inside. The pain continued. Kurt screamed and fell to his knees. For two quick seconds, his red eyes reverted to yellow, and then the color was gone as quickly as it had come. The pain disappeared.  
  
Kurt stood up slowly, groaning, his eyes oddly flashing from red to yellow and back again like a strobe light. It was a second before they stopped and returned to their unsettling glowing crimson. He blinked confusedly. "What the hell was that?!" he exclaimed.  
  
The voice growled frighteningly. [He is resisting again.]  
  
Kurt swore. "Can't you speed this up?!"  
  
[Oh, most certainly, I can. And I will.]  
  
"Do it then. Kill him now. Kill him!!"  
  
***  
  
Deep inside the flames, Kurt felt overwhelmed with regret. He had probably just blown his only chance for help. Rogue had been there...she had been right there...and she would probably never come back. His only chance to talk to one of the X-Men on the outside, and he hadn't even been able to think straight enough to speak English. Seeing her disappear from sight took the last tiniest ray of hope he was barely hanging onto. And now the creature was angry...again.  
  
"You were resisting again."  
  
Kurt did not look up. He was barely even listening.  
  
"He is growing impatient, as am I. It is time to end this."  
  
Kurt sighed tiredly, like there was no ounce of willpower left in his soul. *Whatever ends the pain,* he thought to himself. He drifted there for several seconds, waiting, but nothing was happening. Curiously, he looked up at the creature. Kurt was startled to find an amused expression on its face.  
  
"You're not even going to ask?" the creature questioned.  
  
"Ask vhat?"  
  
It laughed, the noise resounding heavily around the entire place. "You don't even care to know who I am?"  
  
Kurt hesitated. To be honest, he really was curious about it, but what good would it do him? This thing was going to kill him anyway. It wouldn't make any difference, would it? "I...guess, but...vhy do you care if I know?"  
  
The creature cackled softly. "I've always imagined what the look on your face would be."  
  
***  
  
The X-Men instinctly covered their eyes and averted their faces, expecting dust and debris to come flying their way from the sudden explosion. But unexpectedly, they found that there was no debris. In fact, the only thing coming their way was a thick fiery smoke. Storm brought another gust of wind to clear the cloud away. They looked in the direction of the blast and were shocked at what they saw.  
  
The noise had sounded like it was from the institute; however, the mansion was intact and completely unharmed. The source of the sound was, as partially expected, Kurt. None of the X-Men could fathom what he may have done to cause such a noise, but in truth all he had done was teleport.   
  
Kurt didn't look the same as before. Again, his appearance had changed. This time, however, more drastically. The eyes hadn't changed any. But the most noticeable difference was the fact that Kurt was now sporting two huge, nasty looking bat-like wings. His tail must have grown at least three feet longer, and its spaded tip had also grown longer and sharper. He was glaring down at them with an all-too-familiar contemptuous look.  
  
"I am finished with the games," he growled, his voice noticeably deeper and more demonic. "This pointless pursuit ends now."  
  
Kitty screamed out loud. "What happened to you!?" she shrieked. "What happened to Kurt?!"  
  
Kurt grinned, exposing his fangs. There was no mistake that this time they were certainly sharper, and perhaps even a bit longer. As he spoke, he seemed to savor every word: "Kurt is dead."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Yay! More suspensefulness and another cliffhanger! lol Well, there is some good news for those of you who hate cliffhangers: I will be revealing the identity of Kurt's possessor in either the next chapter or the one after that. So not much more waiting now! Thanks for being so patient :) And, well...if you haven't been patient...thanks anyway ^^; Oh yes, before I forget...the German translations! Again, I got these off some website, so if they're not right (and I'm not expecting them to be 100% accurate) just let me know and I'll fix it.  
  
*Stop it!! Stop it please!!  
  
**Help me!! Help me please!! Help me, Rogue...please make it stop!!  
  
  
  
Please let me know what you think and review! 


	8. Ich Komme Aus dem Reich des Bösen

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: Well, this is it. The chapter you've all been waiting for. Hehe, climaxes are fun to write ^^ Foreshadowing and cliffhangers are fun to write too, but I've had all my fun with those so now it's time to start sending a certain someone back where they belong. And so since I know a few of you have been waiting for this for a while, I won't keep you. On with the chapter! =)  
  
  
  
Nobody could bring themselves to even think of a reply. They all stood there, dumbfounded, staring at this creature that could only be Kurt yet was just completely not him at all. He was laughing softly, taking great pleasure at seeing the astounded looks on their faces. Finally, one of them, the small brunette girl, worked up the courage to speak.  
  
"Wh-what!?" Kitty yelled, her voice shaking with a combination of fear and disbelief. "What do you mean Kurt's dead?"  
  
"I mean that other part of me is gone," Kurt replied simply. "I mean he's finally done it, and now I'm going to finish the rest of you off as well."  
  
***  
  
Of course, Kurt was not truly dead quite yet. But to be truthful, he honestly couldn't have wanted anything more. None of the X-Men could help him now, not Rogue, not Jean, not even Professor Xavier. The only thing he truly cared about now was to know the truth. This voice, this creature had been playing with him and his mind from the beginning. Kurt wanted to know who it was, and it was even offering to tell him.  
  
"Vell...who are you then?" he asked weakly.  
  
"You don't even want to take a guess?" the creature replied tauntingly.  
  
Kurt was hardly in the mood or even the right state of mind to play these games. In response he slowly shook his head no.  
  
The creature grinned, a disturbing gesture. "I'll give you a hint."  
  
***  
  
"No!" Rogue suddenly screamed. "No, he's lying!!" she yelled, pointing up at the demon Kurt, who was smugly hovering several feet above them. "Kurt's not dead, I JUST saw him! I saw him when I touched him!"  
  
Kurt stared at her hard, and suddenly Rogue felt a huge force shove her backwards and right into Logan. The two of them flew back at least twenty-five feet before falling to the ground. Almost involuntarily, Cyclops reached for his visor and shot one beam up at Kurt. Barely had it left his eyes when Kurt made an abrupt clenching motion with his fist, and all of a sudden Scott's visor shattered, destroying it entirely within half a second.  
  
Startled, Scott yelped and stumbled for a moment before dazedly covering his eyes. Jean briefly stared in shock at the visor, now in countless tiny pieces. She looked up and tried to grab a telepathic hold on Kurt, but the moment she started to concentrate, a sharp pang of pain overtook her whole head. She groaned and rubbed her temples.  
  
"Jean, like, what's the matter?" Kitty asked frantically.  
  
"My telekinesis isn't working," she replied. "Kurt threw me too hard, my head just hurts when I try to use it."  
  
***  
  
Everything all around Kurt seemed to fall silent as the creature started to speak. For the time being, there were no screams and the voices were all gone. The pain was finally gone as well...the fire was leaving him alone for now. Yet it didn't seem to alleviate his fear. If anything, the new silence was making Kurt more uncomfortable and fearful. The deja vu he'd felt from the first night was returning...or at least he thought so.  
  
The creature stared him down with an intense glare. Its voice grew louder than before and resounded around Kurt from every side.  
  
"Ich komme aus dem Reich des Bösen...." {1} it said slowly.  
  
***  
  
Logan growled and pushed Rogue off him. He extended his claws and was about to run off when Rogue grabbed his shirt abruptly.  
  
"Logan, don't!"  
  
Annoyed, he yanked his shirt out of her grip and yelled, "What!? And just let him kill us all?!"  
  
"It doesn't matter, that's still Kurt! And you already hurt him once!"  
  
Logan glared at her and sighed. "I know, kid, but how exactly are you planning on stopping him then?"  
  
Rogue fell silent as if she did not have an answer. There was a brief silence between the two of them, and then their attention was caught by an abrupt scream.  
  
***  
  
"Mein Reich ist das Böse...." {2}  
  
Kurt blinked, not knowing what to feel or think. Then, suddenly, a terrible feeling started to manifest deep within him. He felt a sharp pang of fear grab his heart, hoping that what he was beginning to suspect was not true....  
  
***  
  
Kurt had suddenly swooped down and grabbed Kitty, who in her fear and panic was unable to phase. She screamed, seeing Kurt close up for the first time, the frightening image of his demonic face too much for her to take. Fortunately for her, she did not have to gaze upon it for long. Kurt forcefully tossed Kitty as hard as he could across the institute grounds.  
  
Storm was first to react, calling up another gust of wind and grabbing the shrieking girl before any harm came to her. She set Kitty down quickly but gently, then turned to Kurt angrily with her eyes glowing. "It is time for you to stop," she said, rising up into the air.  
  
She brought down a huge lightning bolt directed towards Kurt, and though he was able to dodge most of it, the bolt singed part of his tail.  
  
"Ororo, stop it!!" Rogue shouted, running across the grass. "That's Kurt!"  
  
"This is NOT Kurt," Storm replied gravely. "Kurt would never do the things this one has done."  
  
"But for all we know you could be killing the real Kurt!"  
  
***  
  
"Ich bin der Abgrund...." {3}  
  
Kurt eyes widened farther and farther as he stared in disbelief.  
  
"Das Chaos...." {4}  
  
It couldn't be what he thought it was....  
  
***  
  
"He would never need your help in killing him," Kurt spat angrily. "That other Kurt is gone. I am Kurt now." He stared at Ororo, like he had stared at Rogue earlier, and like a bullet she plummeted from the sky and right into Evan. She knocked the startled boy off his feet and the two of them skidded for a few feet before coming to a stop. Unfortunately, Storm had landed directly on the wound on Evan's arm. Evan cried out sharply, fresh pain surging through his arm and rendering it useless for the time being.  
  
Storm quickly got off her nephew and helped him stand. "Are you all right, Evan?" she asked.  
  
"Not really...but I'll be okay."  
  
Storm suddenly felt an invisible force shove her back towards Evan, but she was able to stop herself from falling on him a second time. Angrily, she turned to Kurt, who she knew was responsible. Before Storm was able to conjure up any wind or lightning, Evan shot several spikes up at Kurt with his uninjured arm.  
  
As soon as he had let them go, Evan knew he shouldn't have. The last time he'd tried it Kurt had caught them without the slightest difficulty: he would only catch them again this time. But even so, Evan didn't feel like he could just stand there and do absolutely nothing. It was hard to tell himself that the demon in the air was Kurt, for it looked nothing like him anymore.  
  
As expected, Kurt caught the eight spikes that Evan had shot up. "Wow," he said, surveying the X-Men beneath him. "He may as well have just gone all the way and possessed every one of you. I mean, you're all as weak and stupid as Kurt was...it would have been so easy."  
  
***  
  
"Bin ich der Zerstörer...." {5}  
  
***  
  
Logan growled and shouted furiously, "I'm gonna give you one chance before I cut your tail off, elf!! Now tell me: who is possessing you?!"  
  
Kurt stared at him with a strange questionable expression. His tail swished back and forth from its hanging position almost rhythmically. "Why do you care?" he asked with an almost genuine tone of voice. "Kurt is dead and I'm going to kill the rest of you in about two minutes from now. What does it matter if you know or not?"  
  
"I can give you several good reasons why--"  
  
"Logan, stop," Rogue suddenly cut in, her voice strangely calm. Logan turned to her and asked, "What do you want, kid?"  
  
"Logan, he's not gonna tell you, but it doesn't matter because I know."  
  
A puzzled yet curious expression appeared on Wolverine's face. "You mean you know who's inside the elf?"  
  
"I do."  
  
***  
  
"Ich bin der Antichrist." {6}  
  
There was no terror like this. There was no panic like this. Kurt had never wanted more desperately to get away, never prayed so hard in his life. The creature was smiling: it knew that he knew. "Would you care to guess now?" it asked, almost sounding entertained, like it was having fun with this.  
  
Kurt didn't want to say a word. He was too petrified by the bitter reality of it all to do anything except sit there in shock. But strangely, he found himself whispering softly, "Der Teufel...." {7}  
  
"What was that?"  
  
Kurt was taking in large breaths, as if that was the only thing to keep him from screaming. Fighting hard to keep his voice from shaking, but failing miserably, he forced out, "You...you're...y-you're the d-...the devil...."  
  
And suddenly the creature laughed. Yet it wasn't some sort of maniacal cackle this time: it was a full-blown roar, completely enveloping Kurt with its echoes. It was like the creature had reached the very pinnacle of joy itself, like nothing in all the world could make it more delighted than it was at this moment. Kurt didn't like it. Though he knew the creature was laughing at him, it was not that sort of laugh, it seemed. It was a laugh like...the creature knew something...it had a secret...and it just couldn't keep it from Kurt any longer.  
  
"Very good," it said after calming down somewhat. "Very good indeed. I AM the devil...der Herr der Finsternis, {8} all of that. In fact, I have many names."  
  
Kurt couldn't see where it was going with this, but he didn't like the tone...he didn't like the strangely pleased look in its eyes.  
  
"But besides all of that...." His voice took on a frighteningly serious tone now. He looked down at Kurt with some hidden emotion lying in his eyes. Kurt could have convinced himself that he was imagining it, but he could start to see the silhouetted figure take a shape...and soon he would be able to see this thing for real.  
  
"My name is Azazel, Kurt."  
  
The grin came back. His eyes were beginning to spark up with some sort of delight...it was making Kurt's heart sick with fear and driving him insane with worry, disbelief, and horrifying suspicion.  
  
"And you are my son."  
  
Kurt could have sworn his heart stopped for nearly five seconds. All of a sudden he could no longer breathe and for a moment he couldn't see. In all his life he had never felt an agony like this. No pain that the creature had given him, no words that the townspeople had screamed at him, no burn that the stake had given him...they were all completely nothing compared to this. Kurt felt like an endless void had risen up inside him and consumed his entire heart.  
  
This had to be a lie...a dream...a NIGHTMARE.... This couldn't be real....  
  
Kurt tried to say something, though his mind had gone empty. Anything that he could manage came out as such a tiny whimper that he could have believed his voice was gone forever. He couldn't be a demon...he was NOT a demon...maybe he should have let the townspeople catch him...all those times they caught him...perhaps he should have stayed and let himself burn with the stake...this meant they were right...everybody back home was right about him...everybody was ALWAYS right about him....  
  
Kurt felt sick. Just sick all over. There was an emptiness that was tearing at his soul....  
  
And Azazel laughed. Laughed just like he had before.  
  
Kurt screamed, using absolutely every ounce of energy left in him in to do so. The sickness was so overwhelming. Everything inside him was disintegrating, dissolving...and though a part of him wondered why should he believe this thing, why should he believe what the devil told him, for he was a liar anyway, that part of Kurt was not very strong at the moment. Nothing could have hurt him more, nothing could have killed him better than to hear that he was the spawn of Satan.  
  
Kurt screamed until there was no breath left in him, until his throat was torn to shreds and his heart was torn to pieces. And when the scream ended, the tears began. Kurt cried as though he would never stop.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
And there you have it. It was Azazel all along :) CrypticIdentity, you finally know the secret ^^ For those of you who don't know who Azazel is, he actually is Kurt's father, and he actually is the devil. The only reviewer to guess right was Nightcrawler03, so kudos to you! ^^ I hope I did all right building up to the revelation, and I hope none of you were disappointed. There was quite a bit of German in this chapter, so I'm going to put the translations here now.  
  
{1} "I come from the realm of evil...."  
  
{2} "My realm is evil...."  
  
{3} "I am the abyss...."  
  
{4} "The chaos...."  
  
{5} "I am the destroyer...."  
  
{6} "I am the Antichrist...."  
  
{7} "The devil...."  
  
{8} "...the Lord of darkness,"  
  
I think those are right. Anyhow, please, please, please leave me a review and let me know what you think. And once again, congrats to Nightcrawler03 for being the first and the only one to guess correctly :) I don't know if you actually figured it out somewhere along the way or if it was just a wild guess, but either way, you guessed it :) And don't worry...just because the possessor's identity has been revealed doesn't mean this story's over quite yet! There's still a little ways to go, so just keep reading to see what happens now. 


	9. Deliver Me, Save Me

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: Wow, it's certainly been a while, hasn't it? Well, I've got a very good explanation for why it's taken me so long to update. In the past month, I've had a family reunion, the holidays, a trip to Florida with the marching band, school starting up again, and general writer's block. So, those are my excuses lol But I've come back with a chapter that I hope all of you will enjoy! So...enjoy!  
  
  
  
  
  
Rogue hadn't wanted to believe it when she found out herself. The devil, the ACTUAL devil, was inside her brother. She couldn't even imagine how frightened he must be. Yet although she had seen that it was Azazel inside Kurt, she did not know the terrible truth that he was Kurt's father.  
  
"Well," Logan asked impatiently, "who is it!?"  
  
Rogue couldn't bring herself to reply immediately.  
  
The professor wheeled up beside them. "I'm afraid," he said sullenly to Logan, "it is someone more powerful than we can do anything against, Logan."  
  
Wolverine narrowed his eyes curiously at Professor X. "What do you mean?"  
  
Xavier sighed heavily. "Logan, the person inside Kurt--" He was cut off abruptly as he was suddenly propelled forward directly into Logan. The two of them went sliding, much farther than they should have, until Rogue realized it was all Kurt's doing. Logan and the professor hit a tree trunk so hard that both of them were unconscious within three seconds.  
  
Rogue turned to Kurt and for the first time in a while felt a small pang of hope. He wasn't lost forever...at least it didn't have to be that way. She saw him laughing like he always was and he might have said something to her, but she wasn't listening. When she'd touched Kurt earlier for the second time, not only had Rogue seen who was inside him, but she'd also received one tiny memory from Kurt, the real Kurt. Just one little thing, one tiny thought, but she knew somehow that she'd seen how to save him.  
  
***  
  
Kurt could hear Azazel still laughing and talking, but he wasn't listening. He couldn't care less for anything that was happening anymore. He no longer had the will to live, or fight back, or even hope for someone to save him. He could only imagine what his demon self had been doing in all the time he'd been loose in the institute. Kurt didn't want to go back and see what he might have done to the other X-Men.  
  
Unfortunately, as Kurt no longer wanted to live with the knowledge of Azazel, he also did not want to die. Because what would happen then? Of course Kurt had been baptized in his youth, but being the son of the devil had to account for something as well. Kurt wasn't sure where he'd end up...he didn't exactly want to know.  
  
So what now, then? Kurt didn't want to live the rest of his life, hating himself even more than ever before now that he knew he actually was a demon. He didn't want to face the X-Men anymore either, now that they all must know also. Kurt didn't want to die, as he was so afraid of what the consequences might be. So what now? Kurt wouldn't choose life, and he would not choose death. And he didn't want this place either.  
  
In Kurt's eyes, there was nothing left for him. Nothing anywhere.  
  
***  
  
"So now you're all alone," Kurt said tauntingly. "What do you plan to do now? Touch me again? You know that only does nothing but hurt you. I wouldn't even feel it anymore. So go ahead if you want."  
  
Rogue did not reply. She didn't even look at him. She walked away, heading towards Jean, who was helping Scott at the moment. "Jean," Rogue asked quietly. "I need your powers."  
  
"What? What for?" the telepath asked concernedly.   
  
"Just for a little bit. Please?"   
  
Jean took one little glance at the demon Kurt hovering above them and made her decision. Nodding, she held out her hand. Rogue grabbed it, and within a few seconds Jean's powers were transferred to her. "Thanks."  
  
"If you're going to give up," Kurt said, "let me know so I can get out of here. I'm tired of hanging around this place."  
  
"I'm not giving up," Rogue replied as confidently as she could, walking back to him.  
  
"Then what are you planning to do? Beg for his life?"  
  
"I don't have to beg for anything," she answered as rudely as possible. Using Jean's telepathy, she lifted herself up in the air until she was level with Kurt, the two of them about fifteen feet apart. "Now I want you to listen to me, Kurt. Both of you."  
  
Kurt laughed. "All right, fine. I had figured that the whole bunch of you couldn't get any more pathetic, but I guess I was wrong. Go ahead, prove me wrong."  
  
Rogue wasn't listening to him, she was only waiting for him to stop talking. She cleared her thoughts and tried to remember the one memory that had passed from the true Kurt to her...the one thing she thought might save him. "Okay," she whispered. "I think I can remember it all."  
  
The demon Kurt watched her with intrigued eyes, waiting to see what she would do.  
  
"O Lord...um...do not rebuke me in your anger or...discipline me in your wrath," Rogue recited, her voice a lot less stronger than she meant for it to be. But she kept going, "Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my...bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?"  
  
Kurt gave her a strange look and asked confusedly, "What are you doing??"  
  
***  
  
Kurt's willpower was completely vanquished. Nothing mattered to him, he didn't care, he didn't want to live, he didn't want to die...he just didn't want anything anymore.  
  
He heard a noise deep in the shadows...but to him it was probably just the remanifestation of the voices from before, and he didn't care if they came back now. But it was getting louder, and for the faintest second it sounded like a voice he recognized....  
  
***  
  
Rogue clenched her fists and growled in frustration. If this was going to work, she had to do it right. When she touched the demon for the second time, she'd gotten a thought from the real Kurt. It had been a prayer of some sort, something that he just kept saying over and over in his head. She saw it was keeping him alive somehow, giving him just the tiniest bit of hope to hold onto. She thought that maybe if she said it to him, from the outside, perhaps it would give him enough willpower to come back.  
  
She took a deep breath and continued, ignoring the snide look on the demon's face. "Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?"  
  
***  
  
*I think I know that voice...but from where?* It wasn't like Kurt really cared. But at least it gave him something to think about. What was that they were saying, anyway?  
  
***  
  
"I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears."  
  
"What are you TALKING about!?" the demon yelled, close to laughing. "What are you saying??"  
  
"I'm not talking to you, ya moron. I'm trying to talk to my brother, but you're makin' it hard when you keep interrupting me like that!" Rogue spat angrily.  
  
"Oh." The demon laughed. "He can't hear you, you know. He's probably dead by now anyway."  
  
Rogue didn't listen and just continued, louder this time. "My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes."  
  
***  
  
Kurt definitely knew this voice. He just couldn't place it. And the longer he concentrated on the faint sound, the stronger and louder it became, and he soon was able to hear it if he listened as hard as he could.  
  
"Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping!"  
  
Kurt recognized that. But from where?  
  
"The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer!"  
  
Who was saying that?  
  
"All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace!"  
  
Kurt felt like he'd said that before. But it wasn't him speaking; who was it? It was someone he knew, someone he trusted...the memory was coming and going, fading in and fading out....  
  
*Who are you?* he wondered.  
  
***  
  
Rogue waited a few seconds after finishing. Did she get it all right? Nothing was happening.  
  
"Well, that didn't work," demon Kurt said, sounding completely indifferent. "Guess he's dead by now. About time, too, you know? I was getting tired of waiting."  
  
Suddenly enraged, Rogue used her borrowed telepathy to try and throw Kurt to the ground. However, he was much stronger than her inexperienced attempt, and he "pushed" her right back.  
  
"If you want to settle this on the ground, that's just fine with me," he said. "All you had to do was ask, you know." Slowly, he began to hover himself down, when all of a sudden he shrieked and fell the rest of the way.  
  
Rogue blinked. "What was that?"  
  
The demon got back on its feet and growled angrily. Its eyes flickered once from red to yellow and back again. Rogue's eyes widened. *Did it work?* Wasting no time, she lowered herself onto the grass as well. She gazed at Kurt hopefully, and after the demon regained itself somewhat, it stared back at her and asked contemptuously, "What?"  
  
Rogue was barely listening. She had just come too close to getting Kurt back to care what the demon was saying anymore. "Kurt!" she shouted. "Kurt, can you hear me?!"  
  
"Oh shut up!!" the demon yelled. "He's dead, you idiot!! Honestly, what are you honestly trying to do?! He's dead, and I'm getting out of here. I'm not wasting my time with you anymore."  
  
Almost without thinking, Rogue lifted up both hands and grabbed hold of the demon telepathically. She held him there, as tight as she possibly could, ignoring the look on his face. It wasn't a look of anger or hatred, but rather of sheer, complete annoyance. "Now what?" he asked disdainfully. "Are you just going to hold me here forever?"  
  
Slowly, Rogue began to walk toward him, taking care not to lose her grip on him. She stopped once she came so close to the demon that she could touch it. *Got to try this thing one more time,* she thought, determined not to give up so easily. She began speaking the words again, praying that she could still remember them all, just in case it was working.  
  
"Shut up!!" the demon yelled again. Rogue was not going to take it anymore. Angered, she gathered up all the strength she had to telepathically throw the demon to the ground. She threw herself on top of it, holding it down both with her mind and with her hands. It was struggling as hard as it could, but to no avail. Rogue shouted the words into its face, as if Kurt was buried deep inside and if she yelled he might hear her better.  
  
In a sense, this was true. Rogue felt like she was actually calling to Kurt, asking him to not let this thing kill him...maybe it would work...nothing else was.  
  
***  
  
The voice was getting louder. Kurt could hear the words more clearly than ever now. The only problem was he didn't know what it was, and he didn't recognize who was saying it. But he kept listening. It at least gave him something to concentrate on other than Azazel.  
  
Azazel was still there, watching him. "What's the matter?" he asked, seeing that Kurt's attention seemed to be focused elsewhere. "Growing delirious from the heat?"  
  
"I hear something..." Kurt said, more to himself than to Azazel, but answering his question nonetheless.  
  
"Turn, O Lord, and deliver me...save me..." came the voice. "I am worn out from groaning...my eyes grow weak with sorrow...."  
  
With a sudden gasp, Kurt remembered. "I know that vun!" he shouted suddenly. "I know vat that is!!"  
  
The words continued, echoing in the distance.  
  
"I used to say that every night!" Kurt yelled excitedly, not caring that Azazel could hear him. "I vas just saying it now...or a couple minutes ago...or something, I don't remember...but I recognize it!"  
  
"What for?" Azazel asked indifferently. "They're just words, they mean nothing."  
  
"That's not true," Kurt replied, but he wasn't really listening to him anyway. He was trying to place that voice which seemed like it would be so distinctive....  
  
"Rogue!" he shouted triumphantly. "It's Rogue!! I can hear her!!"  
  
"You're delirious, boy," Azazel said. "You hear nothing."  
  
"No, I hear her, I really do!!"  
  
***  
  
Rogue was just a few lines away from finishing, and so far nothing drastic was happening. She began to feel her determination slowly slip away, when suddenly the demon gave out a shriek, much like it had done earlier before it fell to the ground. It screamed and thrashed about, shocking Rogue so much that she stopped in midsentence. Its eyes flashed back and forth from red to yellow, and it screamed, "Stop it!! STOP IT!!"  
  
Rogue took that as her cue to continue.  
  
***  
  
"The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer!!"  
  
"Rogue!" Kurt called. "Rogue!! I don't vant to die here!!"  
  
Azazel growled, so deeply and so angrily that Kurt could feel it. "What did I tell you about resisting me?" he asked dangerously.  
  
Kurt was not listening. "I don't vant to die here!! I don't vant to stay here vith HIM!!"   
  
"You will stay here...and you will die here," Azazel told him, growing more and more annoyed by the second.  
  
"ROGUE!!"  
  
***  
  
"NO! NO!!" the demon screamed. "STOP IT, STOP IT!!"  
  
Rogue had a feeling that it wasn't talking to her. The demon was beginning to convulse violently, yet somehow Rogue still managed to keep a hold on him.  
  
"STOP IT! STOP IT!!" More flashing of the eyes. They just kept changing randomly, the pain growing greater for the demon and the thrashing becoming more and more intense, yet it never seemed to get any stronger. If anything, it was getting weaker. "No! NO!! STOP!!"  
  
Rogue kept holding the demon down, until it suddenly looked straight at her, the flashing beginning to show less red and more yellow. "What have you done!?" it screamed at her. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?!" It shrieked one last time, and with its last bit of strength, the demon Kurt teleported.  
  
There was a huge smoky explosion, leaving a cloud that blinded Rogue for a full minute. When the smoke finally cleared, she was able to open her eyes and see something that lifted a substantial weight from her heart.  
  
Lying not two feet in front of her, either unconscious or heavily weakened, was Kurt. His tail was back to its normal length, the wings were gone, and best of all, no more red eyes.  
  
No more demon.  
  
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And that's the end of this chapter. Not the story! There's still a little bit more to go, don't worry. I'll let you know when it's over :D The psalm used in this chapter is Psalm 6, just for reference. I chose it because it is one of my favorites, plus I thought it fitting for this story. I know there are still a few loose ends to tie up with this story, and all will be answered with the last two, hopefully coming soon. At least, I'm planning on only having two more chapters. Could be wrong, though ^^  
  
Please review and let me know what you think! 


	10. And He Stood Up

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, but I do own the story. If it resembles anyone else's in any way, it is unintentional.  
  
Author's Note: Well, I was wrong last chapter. There will not be two more chapters; this will be the last one. I'm really glad you all have enjoyed this as much as you have and I hope this conclusion will be a satisfying one. As always, a longer author's note at the end, so enjoy! =)  
  
  
  
  
  
Rogue stared for what felt like forever at Kurt's immobile form. Slowly, cautiously, she reached forward and brushed some of his hair out of his face. He did not appear to be breathing. *Oh, God, no...* she thought panickedly.  
  
"Kurt?" she said. "Are you all right?" He didn't stir. *Oh, God, he's dead! I killed my brother!* Rogue was in a rather irrational state of mind at the moment. She was so desperate for Kurt to be okay, and so incredulous that her plan had actually worked, that she was jumping to conclusions hardly two minutes after it had all happened.  
  
"I must admit to you that I am somehow surprised."  
  
Rogue jumped. Looking up, she saw a sight that almost made her scream. Standing barely ten feet in front of her was an enormous monster, eyes red, skin red, dark hair, which must have been at least eight feet tall. It didn't even take her half a second to figure out who it must be.  
  
Upon seeing the fear in Rogue's eyes, Azazel grinned. "You have been quite the annoyance to me throughout this entire ordeal." It made Rogue shudder to hear how deep his voice was. "You just couldn't help getting involved, could you? You set me back a considerable amount of time. And now look what you've done. You've ruined it. You've ruined everything."  
  
"What do you want?" Rogue asked, fighting to keep the fear out of her voice. She held Kurt's head in her lap protectively, eyeing Azazel as if just daring him to come any closer.  
  
"Nothing from you. And I no longer want anything of my son there, either. You see, Kurt has always had a demon inside him, a much more powerful form than his rather useless human one. I came to release it, so that he might be of some use to me."  
  
Rogue froze. She couldn't have heard him right. "Wait...did you just say...Kurt was your SON?"  
  
"I did. But quite a useless one in the state he was in. Everything was going quite well until you intervened. Now thanks to you, he will forever remain this weak, worthless human that I am ashamed to call my son."  
  
"He ain't weak and he ain't worthless, ya creep!" Rogue shouted angrily. "Look, if you're not going to bother Kurt anymore, then get outta here and leave us alone!!!"  
  
Azazel smirked at her. "Of course I'm not going to bother you anymore. I came here for my demon son and you have destroyed him. What makes you think I want him now?"  
  
Rogue did not reply. She only glared at him as if he would shrink back if she put enough hatred into it. Azazel's somehow satisfied expression did not change. He laughed and said, "It would be terribly ironic if you went through all that trouble and he didn't survive. I'm not so sure that he did, you know; I WAS awfully close to finishing him when he left." He laughed again once he saw fear jump into Rogue's eyes.  
  
"Enjoy the corpse." And with a teleport that strongly resembled Kurt's, Azazel was gone.  
  
Overwhelmed with anger, Rogue shouted at the lingering cloud the most vulgar and foul things her mind could come up with in its irrational, fearful state. She screamed all the offensive things she knew until long after Azazel's cloud had disappeared. Even then, she didn't know for how long she had gone on. After her anger was somewhat spent, she turned back to her still unconscious brother, half believing him to be dead.  
  
"Kurt," she said, fighting not to lose hope after finally getting him back. "Come on, Kurt. If you're playing one of your stupid jokes then it's not funny. I know that jerk's a liar, I know you're not really dead, but the least you could do is breathe, dammit!!"  
  
Rogue heard the grass rustle and looked up. Logan and the professor were standing over her, both looking concerned, both unaware of what exactly was happening. The two of them had regained consciousness not long ago and came to see what was going on.  
  
"Is the elf all right?" Logan asked, his eyes looking somewhat tense.  
  
"Logan, I don't know if he's alive or what, please do something!"  
  
"He's not dead, Rogue," Professor X assured her calmly. "Your success was extremely fortunate."  
  
"Elf?" Logan said, nudging him. "Come on now, don't do this."  
  
"Kurt!!" Rogue shouted, beginning to panic. If Kurt was indeed alive, then that was all well and good, but what if he was in some sort of coma? Rogue's mind could not settle on one thought.  
  
But at the sound of her yell, Kurt noticeably cringed. "I'm avake, Rogue," he said almost inaudibly.  
  
Yes! He was alive! Azazel hadn't killed him! Rogue felt triumphantly victorious and was too delighted for words.  
  
"Stop yelling..." Kurt said, "...I just don't feel like talking right now."  
  
Rogue suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Why hadn't she thought of that earlier? He had just been too tired to reply to her, that was all it had been.  
  
"I'm sorry...you don't have to do anything, Kurt, I'm sorry," she apologized quickly.  
  
Kurt looked around and saw Wolverine and the professor. To his horror, that was all he saw. Where were the other X-Men? What had happened to them? "Rogue...did I kill anyvun? Vhere is everybody?"  
  
"They're fine, Kurt, don't worry about it. Don't worry, you can close your eyes, it's over now."  
  
***  
  
Kurt had heard Rogue's voice deep inside those endless flames; he remembered why he used to say that prayer almost every night. He'd resisted Azazel, resisted the demon, and was able to finally drive it out. He remembered a feeling like teleporting, and the next thing Kurt saw was the sky as he was lying on the institute grounds, looking up. The fatigue and weakness at that point was overwhelming, and Kurt had fallen instantly asleep.  
  
However, he was unpleasantly awakened by the frantic yells of Rogue not long afterward. But he was so tired...he couldn't even think straight enough to realize that she would think he was dead if he didn't say something. But after he had drifted off to sleep and been awakened a second time, he finally asked her to stop shouting. She'd respected his wish and Kurt next awoke in his own bed.  
  
***  
  
For the next week nobody saw much of Kurt. He spent most of his time sleeping, occasionally wandering into the kitchen to get something to eat, but never saying a word to anybody. He avoided eye contact with any of the other X-Men as well. For the most part nobody gave him a hard time about it. They could understand that he probably needed some time to himself after all that had happened. But after a while, Rogue felt like she needed to confront him. After all, she hadn't exactly gotten over the events of Kurt's possession either.  
  
One night before dinner, she and the other X-Men, minus Kurt of course, were sitting at the table doing homework like usual. For the first day or two after Kurt had gone back to normal, there had been little or no conversation among them during this time. But lately, things were beginning to stray in a more casual direction, and even a normal conversation was being had around the table.  
  
Rogue stood up and began to walk out of the room. "Hey Rogue," Kitty called, "where're you going?"  
  
"Oh...I'm just gonna see if Kurt wants to have dinner with us tonight," she replied.  
  
"Oh." There was a short uneasy pause between them. "Well..." Kitty finally said, "tell him I hope he comes."  
  
"I will." And Rogue left the room.  
  
Once upstairs, she found that there was no light coming from underneath Kurt's door. He must be sleeping again. She lifted her hand to knock, but then decided that there really was no point. She was going to talk to him no matter what. So, as quietly as she could, Rogue opened the door and let herself in.  
  
"Is that you, Rogue?" came a mildly tired voice from the bed.  
  
"Yeah, it's me," she replied, not bothering to close the door all the way in order to let in some light.  
  
"I vas hoping it might be you." Kurt pushed the covers off him and sat up. Rogue walked over to the bedside.  
  
"You been having any nightmares or anything lately? Just out of curiosity."  
  
"Dreamless."  
  
"That's good," she replied, smiling. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "So...do you feel any better?"  
  
"I don't really know. I don't even know vhat happened."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
He didn't say anything for a while, obviously thinking deeply about something. "I just...he vas making me forget everything...and I...sort of remember some of the things that happened after that, but not really...and then I voke up and you vere there, and I thought I'd killed everybody else."  
  
"I told you, Kurt...you didn't kill anybody," she told him in her most reassuring voice.  
  
"I know."  
  
Rogue was silent herself for a moment then. "Well...what DO you remember? Anything?"  
  
He nodded, slowly. "I remember he told me he vas the devil...and I remember fire...and I remember you saying that psalm to me. That's about the best thing I remember about it all."  
  
"That's all? You don't remember anything else?"  
  
He paused before shaking his head no.  
  
So he didn't know that he was Azazel's son. Of course, Rogue didn't know if he had ever told Kurt, but it didn't matter. He didn't remember. She figured it best not to tell him. It was probably the last thing Kurt ever needed to hear.  
  
"How did you know that psalm, anyvay?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Well...I touched you, the demon I mean, and it was the only thing out of you that I got. I figured it would help bring you back. And I guess it did."  
  
Kurt sighed distractedly. "I used to say it all the time. Vhen I vas little...."  
  
"Um...do you mind me asking why? I mean...what does it mean, exactly?"  
  
Kurt shook his head to say no, he did not mind. "It means...that your life can be horrible, you can be overvhelmed by all your sorrow and everything else, but it doesn't matter, because God vill alvays be merciful to you. All you have to do is ask for it."  
  
There was a short silence. "And it helped?"  
  
"Nothing else really did. Especially after they'd been chasing me all night......it made me feel better."  
  
They stayed there for a moment in silence. Kurt was not looking at her, rather staring straight ahead. Rogue saw the look on his face and could tell that something was still bothering him. "Kurt," she said softly, sitting on the edge of his bed, "what are you still so afraid of, huh? He's never coming back here again, you know that, right?"  
  
He looked her full in the face, no expression there besides exhaustion. There was a silence, one like all the others that had passed in their conversation thus far. He'd stayed quiet in order to think about what he was going to say next. "I'm afraid of vhat I did," he finally said. "Vhat I did...here. To all of you."  
  
Rogue felt like she should be tired of telling him this, but oddly enough it didn't bother her in the least. "You didn't kill anybody, Kurt. You didn't even hurt anybody that badly. Matter of fact, it wasn't even really you."  
  
He blinked once, slowly. "Vhat did I do, then?"  
  
Rogue realized now that nobody had ever told him what happened while the demon was running rampant in the institute. He'd never asked up till now, and no one had ever really gotten the chance to tell him. They probably didn't even want to tell him.  
  
"Well..." she started out slowly, "the demon was running around for about an hour, prob'ly longer. And he did a lot less damage than he was aiming to, you know. A lot less."  
  
"Rogue..." Kurt said in a way that almost sounded exasperated. "Just tell me vhat I did. I vant to know."  
  
Rogue sighed. She might as well tell him if he wanted to know so much. Even though she hadn't been around for most of the demon's attacks, she had found out about them after seeing the others' injuries. So she told Kurt about the demon biting Jean, stabbing Evan, shattering Scott's visor, and all the other things he'd done to them. But she also added, with extra emphasis, all the times they'd escaped the demon's violence. She even told him about how Logan was able to attack the demon and cut its face.  
  
"He did that?" Kurt asked, curiously feeling his face for signs of a cut or scar. "But...there's nothing here."  
  
"That's 'cause it wasn't you, it was that demon."  
  
"Oh...." Rogue waited a minute or two before realizing that he was not going to say anything else.  
  
"Well, is there anything you need?" she asked hopefully, not liking to see him so depressed over something that was never even his fault.  
  
"No, Rogue. Thank you."  
  
Rogue sighed and stood up. "All right." She walked towards the door and suddenly stopped. "Just so you know," she said, "Kitty and I have been eating your dessert every night." And she left.  
  
Kurt sat in bed for a while after she left. It wasn't like he was being stubborn, or like he enjoyed being depressed and isolated, he was just confused. And even though Rogue was being extremely helpful, she couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing the one thing that was driving him crazy.  
  
No matter how many times he ran it over in his head, there were only a limited amount of things he remembered from a week ago. He remembered the entire morning of that day, the voices and the pain that the voice had brought Kurt when he tried to make it all go away himself. He could recall attacking Rogue the first time, momentarily forgetting all about her. And from there things started to fade. From then on all he had were little flashes of remembrance of seemingly random things. Kurt remembered fire, endless fire everywhere, like the first night. He could recall some other pain, brought to him for some unknown reason, and then of course there was the revelation of the identity of that maddening voice. Kurt had tried so hard to remember even this much that he wasn't sure what was true and what he had made up just for satisfaction.  
  
But by far the thing he remembered best was hearing Rogue's voice saying that psalm to him. He doubted that he would have ever been free of that monster were it not for her.  
  
Tired with thinking for the moment, Kurt reached across to his table and picked up his Bible. He idly flipped through it, looking for nothing in particular to read. He stopped at a random page, which happened to be the Gospel of Mark. His eyes fell on a random passage and he simply began to read:  
  
~~~  
  
When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.  
  
"What are you arguing with them about?" he asked.  
  
A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not."  
  
"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me."  
  
So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.  
  
Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"  
  
"From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."  
  
"'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."  
  
Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"  
  
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."  
  
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead."  
  
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.  
  
~~~  
  
Kurt stopped reading. He was shocked. That passage sounded almost exactly like what had happened to him. He read it again to make sure he wasn't just making it up. No...it was all truly there. One line in particular bewildered him the most.  
  
'...often thrown him into fire or water to kill him...'  
  
Although Kurt had never bothered or really wanted to count the times the villagers had successfully caught him and tried to burn him, it had been quite a few, he was sure. But they'd never killed him, for he always teleported away in the end. Mystique had dropped him into a river when he was just a baby, whether accidentally or not he wasn't exactly sure, but no matter how it had happened he was lucky to survive it.  
  
It was strange, the similarity. Another line intrigued him. 'The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead."' Rogue had told him that when she'd finally gotten the demon out, he had worried her, making her think that he hadn't survived. In a sense, she probably was still thinking just that.  
  
Kurt sighed and put his Bible down. He had been trying so hard to remember something that he never knew, that it never occurred to him that perhaps he didn't want to know. The small images he had were frightening enough; perhaps it was just best to leave it at that. Even though he did not like the idea of having something like that happen to him and never know the truth, there may have even been something Rogue was not telling him. And that was fine with him, he figured, as long as she was just doing it for his own good.  
  
Kurt kicked the covers off him and got out of bed. Due to his ability to see in total darkness, there was no need to turn on his light. He went to his mirror and took a look at himself, blue and fuzzy, with yellow eyes and pointy ears. He looked for a minute or two, then remembered something Rogue had told him a minute ago. Carefully, he looked at his reflection in the mirror, trying to find any small trace of the cut Wolverine had apparently given him.  
  
He could find nothing. No scar, no trace of blood...the skin was flawless. For all he knew Rogue could've made the whole thing up. But what would be the point of that? She'd said there was nothing there because in truth, it was never Kurt doing all those terrible things. It was the demon. Like it was a separate entity. He stared at his face where some mark should have been. Nothing. Like nothing had happened.  
  
He remembered Rogue telling him about when he'd bit Jean. He looked at his fangs in the mirror, wondering if he'd find some trace of blood there, but still nothing. Like nothing had happened.  
  
Well, in any case, at least he would have no physical scars to remind him of the ordeal. As much as something inside Kurt was nagging to know the truth, he tried to ignore it. Something else inside was telling him that it was probably best not to know. Being possessed by the devil was most likely not fun. Who'd want to remember that?  
  
Kurt remembered the last line of the story he'd just read. He kept it running through his head as he walked to his door and out of his room.   
  
He couldn't let Kitty and Rogue get away with HIS desserts, after all.  
  
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And that's the end :) So what did you guys think? Again, I'm really glad you guys enjoyed this story and I hope this was a good enough ending for you. I just have a few things more to say.  
  
First of all, the passage used in this story is Mark 9:14-27. Let me just say that I did not base this story off of that particular passage, though it could probably seem like I did. I actually found it AFTER I had written out the first draft, and thought the similarity was so cool that I just had to include it. There was another line in that story which I didn't include here, but also was very similar to this story. And that is Mark 9:29, "This kind can come out only by prayer," in reference to the spirit, of course. Again, I found this passage after the story had basically been written, which just goes to show how cool things like that can be :)  
  
Anyway, the idea for this story came to me when I started to wonder, what might happen if Kurt were to find out who his father was? And after some playing around with the idea, this story was born. It was a complete 180 degree turn from everything else I've written on FF.Net, and I wasn't sure how well it would be received due to its content. I don't know who had the bright idea of making the devil Kurt's father, which I think was a pretty unfair decision altogether, but I decided to play with the idea anyway. I hope the decision to have Kurt not remember pretty much of anything about the experience didn't seem like too much of an "easy way out" to you all: as I demonstrated earlier in the story, Kurt would probably go off the deep end if he ever knew.  
  
All in all, I'm glad you guys liked this story, and thanks to all of you that reviewed, even to those that didn't review and just read. Like I said before, this was so completely different than anything else I've written for the site, and thank you for making this story a success, at least in my eyes :)  
  
~~~Seraphim737 


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